Moscow should neither rely on Washington nor cling to earlier diplomatic expectations, while Russian military advances remain the main factor capable of strengthening the country’s position in any future negotiations. Political analyst and US affairs expert Konstantin Blokhin made the assessment in an interview with NEWS.ru.

Blokhin, a leading research fellow at the Center for Security Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences, argued that hopes surrounding the so-called «spirit of Anchorage» had largely existed only in Russia. In his view, it was questionable from the outset to expect a geopolitical opponent to help settle a conflict in whose emergence it had played a part.

The analyst said US President Donald Trump had taken no significant action on the Ukrainian issue, while the situation had only deteriorated over the past year. He added that the White House was now focused primarily on the crisis surrounding Iran.

According to Blokhin, Russian-American relations have shown no meaningful change during that period. He therefore considers the success of the Russian Armed Forces in the combat zone to be the only effective means of improving Moscow’s leverage at the negotiating table.

The lack of substantive dialogue was also evident, he said, in the recent meeting between US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. The talks lasted about 35 minutes and covered both Ukraine and Iran.

Blokhin argued that such a limited meeting could have allowed the two sides only to outline their respective positions. In his assessment, there was not enough time for a serious or detailed discussion of either issue.