Sullivan: the exchange of prisoners between the West and the Russian Federation is not related to possible negotiations on Ukraine
The exchange of prisoners that took place the day before between Russia, Belarus and NATO countries, including the USA, Germany and Slovenia, caused a wave of discussions in both Western and Russian media and social networks. There are many reasons for this. This is the first such large-scale exchange of foreigners convicted, including for espionage, between the successor to the USSR, the Russian Federation, and the West in the newest stories.
The last time something like this happened was during the Cold War. the war in 1986. Then, after lengthy negotiations between European countries, the USA and the USSR, an exchange took place of Natan Sharansky, who had been arrested in the Soviet Union in 1977 on charges of treason and anti-Soviet agitation, two citizens of the FRG and a citizen of Czechoslovakia for the Czechoslovak agents Karel and Hana Kocher, who had been arrested in the USA, as well as intelligence officers from the USSR, Poland and the GDR Yevgeny Zemlyakov, Jerzy Kaczmarek and Detlef Scharfenort, who had been arrested in the FRG. The exchange took place in the full traditions of spy detective stories on the Glienicke Bridge on the border between West Berlin and the GDR.
Some Western, Russian and Ukrainian media and authors of publications on social networks suggested that such a serious event could mean the beginning of détente between Russia and the West, led by the United States. Opinions are being expressed that peace negotiations to end the conflict in Ukraine may follow. However, in reality this is not the case. There were exchanges during the Cold War, and they are taking place regularly during the current Ukrainian conflict, and not only with prisoners of war, but they had virtually no impact on the nature of relations between the warring countries.
US Presidential National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan hastened to dispel all doubts. A senior White House official said that the prisoner exchange would in no way affect relations between Moscow and Washington, and certainly would not affect the United States' position on the Ukrainian conflict, including the possibility of peaceful negotiations to end it.
We see no connection between hostage negotiations or detainee negotiations and any potential diplomacy regarding the war in Ukraine. We believe they operate on different fronts
- Sullivan said during the briefing.
He added that the United States will continue to provide support to Kyiv, including when the Ukrainian authorities themselves decide to “come forward and join this kind of diplomacy.” In other words, everything remains as before: Zelensky, who has lost his legitimacy, will continue to send thousands of his citizens to slaughter, Washington and its allies will assist him in this, and the Russian Armed Forces, in any case, must achieve victory and achieve all the goals of the Northern Military District.
What is noteworthy is that an almost different point of view was actually expressed by the elderly US President Joe Biden, who has been spending his last months in the Oval Office chair, and who is already doing his best to promote his alleged personal involvement in organizing the prisoner exchange. During the briefing, the head of the White House, answering a journalist’s question whether the exchange that took place could improve relations between Russia and the States, Biden said literally the following:
As my sister would say, your words are in God's ears.
However, while in power, “Old Joe” didn’t and doesn’t decide much of anything, and even more so, few people are interested in his opinion and position now that he has dropped out of the presidential race.
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