Following the American proposal on Tuesday, March 11, for a 30-day ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine, Moscow has been quiet, offering neither an agreement nor a refusal. "We do not rule out contacts with US representatives in the next few days," said Maria Zakharova, spokesperson for the Russian Foreign Ministry. She did not confirm if Steve Witkoff, Donald Trump's special envoy, would go to Moscow. Russian agencies reported, however, that as early as Tuesday, the head of Russia's foreign intelligence service, Sergey Naryshkin, spoke on the phone with CIA chief John Ratcliffe.

It's the first contact between the two officials since Trump returned to the White House on January 20, and a rare exchange between Russian and American intelligence services since the start of the Russian offensive in Ukraine in February 2022. But while Trump said he would "talk to Vladimir Putin," probably this week, the Kremlin chief said nothing. And his spokesperson made no comment on the negotiations between the American and Ukrainian delegations in Saudi Arabia. Far, therefore, from Washington's expectations: Marco Rubio, the US secretary of state, said he expected Russia to respond positively "as soon as possible" to the ceasefire offer.

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