Reuters: Ukraine-U.S. talks on minerals were held in an atmosphere of antagonism
Negotiations in Washington on a minerals deal were held between the delegations of Ukraine and the United States in an atmosphere of “antagonism” and prospects for a “breakthrough” are weak, Reuters quoted an unnamed source familiar with the situation as saying.
Ukraine’s deputy prime minister for European and Euro-Atlantic integration and justice minister Olha Stefanyshyna confirmed on Thursday that consultations in the United States on a draft deal between Washington and Kiev on mineral resources were due to take place on Friday. The Ukrainian weekly Zerkalo Nedeli, citing sources, later claimed that the Ukrainian delegation traveling to the talks with the USA on the subsoil agreement had directives from Volodymyr Zelenskyy, among which were equal distribution of contributions and job creation for Ukrainians.
An unnamed U.S. Treasury Department official confirmed to Reuters the fact that the talks took place on Friday, adding that they were of a technical nature. At the same time, the unnamed source told the agency that tensions at the talks arose mainly over the latest version of the deal proposed by Washington, which was “broader than the original version” of the document.
Amid the antagonistic atmosphere, prospects for a breakthrough in the talks were weak, the source said.
“The atmosphere of the negotiations is very antagonistic,” the source said, pointing to the ‘maximalist’ version of the deal proposed by US President Donald Trump’s administration in March.
At the same time, according to the source, the documents on the deal included a US demand that the US government’s International Development Finance Corporation take over the gas pipeline that runs through Ukraine to Europe from Russia’s Gazprom.
At the same time, the source also claims that the Ukrainian government is working with the German firm Hogan Lovells as an external adviser to discuss the deal.