MOSCOW. June 20 (Interfax) - The suspension of the Ulchi-Freedom Guardian joint exercise the United States and South Korea were planning to hold this August is an important achievement for all parties interested in achieving a settlement for the Korean Peninsula, according to Federation Council Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Konstantin Kosachyov.
"However it may be, that the preparations for the exercise were canceled and Trump recognized the provocativeness of the very fact of conducting them, against the backdrop of negotiations - these are important achievements, not for the DPRK [Democratic People's Republic of Korea], I would say, but for all interested parties, i.e. for the entire world," Kosachyov told Interfax on Tuesday.
He was commenting on reports that the Pentagon had confirmed the suspension of the Ulchi- Freedom Guardian drill. Pentagon spokeswoman Dana White said that the decision was made in accordance with President Donald Trump's commitment and jointly with South Korea.
Washington's official announcement of the intention to suspend these preparations is a fulfillment of Trump's earlier promise, the Russian senator said.
"The U.S. leader clearly wants to demonstrate consistency, faithfulness to his promises, and readiness for concrete steps as proof of the seriousness of his intentions. He found himself under the fire of domestic criticism for his victorious communiques on the subject of agreements with Pyongyang, and Washington's regional allies were not particularly happy about [Trump's] promise to discontinue the drills, seeing it as a concession to the North Korean leader," Kosachyov said.
Apparently, even the Pentagon was not prepared for such a radical decision; it had always said that the exercise was neither a provocation nor a threat, he said.
"President Trump was very tough in saying that the wargames were making a bad impression on the good-faith negotiations as well as being provocative, which was actually pointed out not only by the DPRK, but also by Russia and China and many other countries," Kosachyov said.
"Trump wouldn't be Trump had he not laid down in his decision an element of blackmail by declaring readiness to renew the drills if the talks go nowhere, for which the blame, naturally, would be placed on the DPRK," he said.
"Secondly, as the Pentagon specified, planning has stopped just for the summer exercise with South Korea, but there has been no decision on any other military drills with that country or with other Pacific nations," Kosachyov said.
"There is no reason not to wish success to the current process, even if the White House takes credit for the whole lot," he said.
"If it gives convincing guarantees and facilitates the DPRK's fulfillment of its obligations under UN Security Council resolutions, then go for it, as they say. No one will be jealous if there's a result. But the result is still a long way off," Kosachyov said.
However, "through making real and concrete, albeit small, steps like the cancellation of drills, at some stage it will prove difficult to veer off the right track in the negotiating process," he said.