GENEVA (Sputnik), Daria Chernyshova — The United States and Russia made no secret deal on Syrian settlement involving situation in Ukraine, Paul Patin, the public affairs officer at the United States Mission in Geneva, told Sputnik on Tuesday.
"No, there is no deal between the United States and Russia with regard to Ukraine or anything else," Paul Pattin said asked if Moscow and Washington might have made a secret pact on exchanging Ukraine for Syrian settlement.
On Friday, the highly-anticipated talks on Syrian reconciliation mediated by the United Nations began in Geneva in line with the December UN Security Council's resolution on Syrian settlement, that ruled to bring the entire spectrum of political groups in the crisis-torn country to the negotiating table.
Ukraine's southeast has been engulfed in a conflict since April 2014, after Kiev launched a military operation to suppress local militia who were resisting a government they claim was installed in a coup. Washington and its allies accused Moscow of fueling the conflict and introduced several rounds of sanctions against Russia. Moscow has consistently denied the allegations.
