Russia is not satisfied with the proposals from the team of the United States (U.S.) President-elect Donald Trump to postpone Ukraine’s NATO membership for 20 years and deploy a European Union (EU) and United Kingdom (UK) peacekeeping contingent there, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Russia Sergey Lavrov said in an interview.
“Judging by numerous leaks and Donald Trump’s interview with Time magazine on December 12th, he speaks of ‘freezing’ hostilities along the line of engagement and shifting further responsibility for confrontation with Russia onto the Europeans. We are certainly not satisfied with the proposals presented by representatives of the president-elect’s team,” he emphasized.
Lavrov explained that the proposal involves delaying Ukraine’s NATO membership for 20 years, while in the meantime deploying a peacekeeping contingent from “UK and European forces” in Ukraine.
Lavrov noted that Moscow has not yet received any official signals from the U.S. regarding a solution for Ukraine.
“Until January 20th, the date of the inauguration, Donald Trump holds the status of ‘president-elect,’ and all policies on all fronts are determined by the current president and his administration. So far, only this latter administration is authorized to deal with Russia on behalf of the U.S., which occasionally happens. For now, there are no talks about Ukraine in these contacts,” Lavrov stressed.
He also stated that Russia is open to resuming political dialogue with the U.S., but Washington must take the first step.
