Karina Bovsunovska18:09, 01.04.25

This is related to the issue of Ukraine’s membership in NATO.

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said that the United States is not taking into account Russia’s “main demand” to ensure peace in the war with Ukraine, so Russia “cannot accept” the American proposals in their current form, Newsweek quotes . 

“We did not hear from Trump a signal to Kyiv to stop the war. All we have today is an attempt to find a certain scheme that would allow us to first achieve a ceasefire, as conceived by the Americans. And then move on to some other models and schemes, in which, as far as we can judge, there is no place for our main demand today, namely, solving problems related to the root causes of this conflict,” Ryabkov noted in an interview with the Russian magazine “International Relations.”

Newsweek recalled that some NATO members are former Soviet republics, so they view the alliance as an important guarantee of protection against Russian aggression, a protection that Ukraine also seeks. However, for the Kremlin, Ukraine’s accession to NATO is a red line, as Russia views the alliance as a threat to its security. 

“This is absolutely not the case, and it must be overcome. We take the models and solutions that the Americans are proposing very seriously, but we cannot accept all of this as it is. We certainly have a deeply and carefully thought-out set of our own priorities and approaches to this topic, which are being worked out and refined, including by our negotiating team at the recent talks with the Americans in Riyadh,” Ryabkov added.

Peace talks on Ukraine – latest news

Earlier, White House press secretary Caroline Levitt said that  Trump was unhappy with both Zelensky and Putin over their comments regarding ending the war in Ukraine. According to her, the American side continues to work very hard on this.

“The president is making incredible efforts to broker a peace agreement between Russia and Ukraine, and he has expressed his displeasure with the comments that have been made by leaders on both sides of this conflict. He has expressed what he believes needs to happen for this conflict to end,” she said. 

At the same time, Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski named the main problem in the US-Russia talks on Ukraine. He believes that such talks “contradict the canons of diplomacy.”

(C)UNIAN 2025