Former U.S. officials have held secret Ukraine talks with prominent Russians

 Thanks to Cogitans Iuvenis for the link!

via NBC

A group of former senior U.S. national security officials has held secret talks with prominent Russians believed to be close to the Kremlin — and, in at least one case, with the country’s top diplomat — with the aim of laying the groundwork for negotiations to end the war in Ukraine, half a dozen people briefed on the discussions said. 

In a high-level example of the back-channel diplomacy taking place behind the scenes, Russian Foreign Affairs Minister Sergey Lavrov met with members of the group for several hours in April in New York, four former officials and two current officials said. 

On the agenda were some of the thorniest issues in the war in Ukraine, like the fate of Russian-held territory that Ukraine may never be able to liberate and the search for an elusive diplomatic off-ramp that could be tolerable to both sides. 

Meeting with Lavrov were Richard Haass, a former diplomat and the outgoing president of the Council on Foreign Relations, current and former officials said.

Here 

Amazing.  There still are a few adults left in Washington.  Maybe we can get this war turned off.

Oh and trust that these people are talking to the Russians will the FULL KNOWLEDGE of the Biden admin and probably their blessings too.

The idea that a nation that is being supported financially, militarily, monetarily...the whole damn spectrum...has a say in this is silly.

Its like a child being able to override a parent.  It just don't go that way.