Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Texas, chair of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, told Newsmax on Wednesday it would be "dangerous" if former U.S. government officials were holding secret talks with Russians to lay a groundwork for negotiations to end the war in Ukraine without Kyiv being involved.
NBC News reported July 6 that three members of the Council on Foreign Relations, all with prior U.S. government experience — Richard Haas, Charles Kupchan, and Thomas Graham — were part of back-channel talks, including an April meeting with Russian Foreign Affairs Minister Sergey Lavrov in New York.
"I think that's dangerous because at the end of the day, it's the Ukrainian people and [President Volodymyr] Zelenskyy that have to make this decision about their own sovereign territory," McCaul told "The Record With Greta Van Susteren." "To exclude them, I don't think that's the right way to proceed."
NBC News reported the discussions came with the knowledge of the Biden administration but not at its direction, and the former officials involved in the Lavrov meeting briefed the White House National Security Council afterward. The Guardian reported Friday a State Department spokesperson said the Biden administration did not sanction the discussions and no peace talks can happen without Ukraine at the table.
"I do think the administration is protecting Crimea from the Ukrainians because they want that as a leveraging chip, if you will, on the negotiation table," McCaul said. "I think that's a mistake.
"They should give them the longer-range artillery to Crimea. If the Ukrainians are successful in going through the land bridge of Donbas to Crimea and cutting it in half, stopping the supply chain, then I think they're on the road to victory and then we can have a negotiated settlement."
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