Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told the state-run TASS news agency that the Kremlin opposes that idea and others proposed by US President-elect Donald Trump. File | Photo credit: Reuters
Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said, “Russia opposes the sending of Western peacekeeping forces to Ukraine as part of reconciliation efforts to end the almost three-year-long conflict.”
Talk about the possibility of stationing foreign troops in Ukraine to implement the peace deal has been circulating in Western capitals, with French President Emmanuel Macron and Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk announcing the move at a meeting in Warsaw this month. discussing issues.
In an interview published by the Russian Foreign Ministry on Monday (December 30, 2024), Lavrov told the state-run TASS news agency that Russia is not interested in the idea or other ideas proposed by US President-elect Donald Trump. He said he was against it.
“Of course, we are not satisfied with the proposal by the president-elect’s representatives to postpone Ukraine’s membership in NATO for 20 years and to send ‘British and European military’ peacekeeping forces to Ukraine,” Lavrov said. said.
The Kremlin previously said it was “too early to talk about peacekeepers.”
Mr. Trump, who takes office in three weeks, has insisted he can conclude a peace deal within 24 hours and said he would leverage Washington’s billions of dollars in financial and military aid to Kiev.
He has not yet proposed a concrete plan, but his team members have suggested sending European troops to monitor a cease-fire along a 1,000-kilometre (620-mile) front, as well as plans for Kiev to join. Various ideas are being floated, including significantly postponing that ambition. NATO military alliance.
The Russian and Ukrainian presidents have ruled out direct dialogue with each other, and Kiev and Moscow appear to be far apart on what terms are acceptable for a peace deal.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has previously demanded that Ukraine withdraw its troops from four eastern and southern regions that Russia claims to have annexed (Donetsk, Kherson, Lugansk and Zaporizhzhia), but Kiev has been forced to withdraw from Moscow in exchange for peace. has repeatedly ruled out the possibility of ceding territory to the United States.
issued – December 30, 2024 10:27 PM IST
