Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov rejected proposals Monday floated by President-elect Trump’s allies to end the war in Ukraine.
In an interview with Russian state-run media outlet TASS, Lavrov said Moscow has “not received any official signals regarding a settlement in Ukraine” but the Kremlin was resistant to those unofficial ideas.
“We are not happy, of course, with the proposals made by members of the Trump team to postpone Ukraine’s admission to NATO for 20 years and to station British and European peacekeeping forces in Ukraine,” he said, responding to leaked reports of Trump’s proposals.
Lavrov called for “reliable and legally binding agreements that would eliminate the root causes of the conflict and seal a mechanism precluding the possibility of their violation.”
Trump has not officially released any proposals to end the war but has emphasized his commitment to halting the conflict.
In a Time magazine interview this month, Trump said he would not release his proposal because it would become “a worthless plan” once made public. But he pledged he would not abandon Ukraine amid fears he would give up eastern Ukrainian territory seized by Russian forces in the war without finding a solution that would protect Kyiv.
“I want to reach an agreement, and the only way you’re going to reach an agreement is not to abandon,” Trump said.
Putin, who has called for a “lasting peace” and has accused Ukraine of thwarting efforts to end the war, said he is open to meeting with Trump.
But Lavrov said Monday he doubted Trump could restore ties between Russia and the U.S., arguing it would “not be that simple.”
“Even if Trump tries to relaunch bilateral ties, he will have to swim against the stream, considering the current bipartisan consensus on the policy of deterring Russia,” Lavrov said. “We’ll see what happens next. If the Americans respect our interests, our dialogue will be gradually renewed. If not, everything will remain as it is.
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Mr. Lavrov, root cause of the conflict is your criminal invasion of a peaceful neighbor. You thought you could get away with it like Hitler did when he invaded Poland.
RUSSIA IS THE WORST AT HYPOCRISY!!! Remember the Budapest Memorandum?! On December 5, 1994, leaders of the United States, the United Kingdom, and the Russian Federation met in Budapest, Hungary, to pledge security assurances to Ukraine in connection with its accession to the Treaty on the Nonproliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) as a non-nuclear-weapons state. The signature of the so-called Budapest Memorandum concluded arduous negotiations that resulted in Ukraine’s agreement to relinquish the world’s third-largest nuclear arsenal, which the country inherited from the collapsed Soviet Union, and transfer all nuclear warheads to Russia for dismantlement. The signatories of the memorandum pledged to respect Ukraine’s territorial integrity and inviolability of its borders, and to refrain from the use or threat of military force. Russia breached these commitments with its annexation of Crimea in 2014 and aggression in eastern Ukraine, bringing the meaning and value of security assurance pledged in the Memorandum under renewed scrutiny.
I think Russia will not go along with any piece plan that is presented to them. Their goal is to restore Russia as it once was.