The U.S. officials do not represent the Joe Biden administration but have briefed the White House. Though no current U.S. officials have participated in the talks, on the Russian side, they have reached the lofty level of Foreign Affairs Minister Sergey Lavrov.

Now, "a former U.S. official directly involved in the talks" has revealed that those talks are ongoing and frequent. The official, who says he has "been visiting Moscow at least every three months," says the meetings "have been taking place at least twice a month."

The White House says, "The United States has not requested official or former officials to open a back channel, and is not seeking such a channel." The Moscow Times report replaces the original NBC description of "prominent Russians believed to be close to the Kremlin" with "high-ranking members of the Kremlin."

Several things have been said in these unofficial meetings and in other closed door places recently that are surprisingly different from what is being said openly in the public.

The United States has consistently, since the end of the Cold War, refused to take seriously Russia's security concerns. The U.S. insists on NATO's right to expand to Russia's doorstep through Ukraine, though that expansion threatens Russia's security concerns. When Russia demanded in December 2022, just prior to the invasion, that the United States provide security guarantees, the U.S. refused to discuss NATO's open door to Ukraine.