Victoria Nuland's statements indicate lack of flexibility in US position

Recent statements from Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Victoria Nuland suggest that Washington lacks manoeuvrability and flexibility, Dmitry Peskov, an official spokesman for Russian President Vladimir Putin said, RIA Novosti reports.

"She repeated the collection of theses that testify to the lack of manoeuvrability and flexibility in the US position, which, in turn, is diametrically opposed to our position,” the Kremlin spokesman said, answering a question of whether Nuland's remarks about Washington's agreement to ease sanctions could be considered a step towards negotiations.

Moscow did not see diplomatic solutions to the issue in what Nulad said, he added.

Earlier, Victoria Nuland announced Washington's readiness to ease existing sanctions against Russia to negotiate a settlement to the conflict in Ukraine and the withdrawal of Russian forces from Ukraine. She also noted that she would welcome a move to ease sanctions if Moscow decided to conduct serious negotiations and withdraw its forces from the territory of Ukraine. Russia would also need to agree to return the annexed territories, Nuland added.