U.S. realizes it can't move forward on sanctions or unified Russia stance without Europe – expert Chalenko

He shared his opinions with Espreso TV.

"Indeed, there’s no unified position (on the Russian-Ukrainian war – ed.) from the United States. That’s easy to see just by analyzing statements from the U.S. State Department or Witkoff. You can clearly spot two camps: Vance, Witkoff, Trump Jr., Musk — that group is very actively cooperating and communicating with people like Dmitriev and other Russian officials. Then there’s the more conservative camp in terms of their stance on Russia and Russian aggression — that includes Rubio and Kellogg. Waltz is more of a question mark because he’s currently out of favor and has made mixed statements. Still, I think Ms. Bruce’s recent statement was key. She clearly said there will be no U.S.–Russia rapprochement unless there’s a full ceasefire. That’s despite Witkoff claiming Putin wants lasting peace, and despite other comments. I see this as an anchor point that will shape future steps," Chalenko said.

At the same time, he noted that the United States has come to understand that it cannot move forward on sanctions or form a joint approach to Russia without Europe.

"And most importantly, we still see that the transatlantic link between the two sides of the Atlantic is holding up. The U.S. has realized: without Europe, they won’t make progress — not on sanctions, not on forming any kind of coordinated or unified stance on the Russians. And what are the Russians doing? They’re just using the moment to try to reset relations with the U.S. But there’s another important point here: Witkoff isn’t only working on the Russia file right now — he’s also working on Iran. And I suspect what’s really going on is an attempt to deal with both Ukraine and the nuclear deal with Tehran in one big package. That’s a problem, because Russia is trying to shift its image from aggressor to mediator — a third party that can talk directly to Tehran. So yes, there are real uncertainties here that need more coordination with partners," Chalenko said.

• Earlier, the press service of the U.S. State Department confirmed that U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and President Donald Trump's special representative Steve Witkoff will visit France this week to discuss the war in Ukraine, among other things.