The Sovfed assessed the chance of Trump understanding the root causes of the conflict with Ukraine

It is now difficult to assess whether newly elected US President Donald Trump will understand the root causes of the conflict between Russia and Ukraine. This opinion was expressed by First Deputy Chairman of the Federation Council Committee on Foreign Affairs Vladimir Dzhabarov on Thursday, December 26.

"It is difficult to assess the chances here, because it will be a completely new person in the White House. Trump of the sample of 2016 and the sample of 2025 are somewhat different people," the senator said in a conversation with Lenta.ru.

Dzhabarov doubted that Trump would end the war very quickly, despite his loud statements. It is still unclear how he is going to do it, but Russia has a recipe, the politician noted.

"The recipe is one: security guarantees must be provided for our country. This can be achieved only on one condition, if Ukraine is completely demilitarized, denazified and turned into at least a neutral state," he said.

The senator emphasized that it is necessary to proceed from the fact that all the regions that are now part of Russia according to the country's constitution will remain under Russian jurisdiction.

He also noted that it is more important for Russia to defend its position than to find understanding of the United States.

"I think our conditions are exactly clear, the president has voiced them repeatedly, let's see how Trump reacts to it. But I think that's not the main thing for us, the main thing for us is how we think to solve it, and we think to solve it the way our head of state has repeatedly spoken about it," he concluded.

Earlier in the day, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said that Trump's special envoy Keith Kellogg should look into the root causes of the conflict in Ukraine. The diplomat expressed hope that the administration of the new head of the United States will be able to get into the essence of the confrontation, reports NSN.

The minister also added that Russia hears the signals of Trump's team about the resumption of dialog and, if they are serious, is ready to respond to them, RT reports.

Earlier, on December 25, the vice-speaker of the Federation Council (FC), Konstantin Kosachev, said that the decision on the settlement of the Ukrainian conflict is highly likely to be made not in Kiev, but in "higher oval offices." He also recalled that the Russian Federation had confirmed its readiness for negotiations.

Before that, on December 22, US President-elect Donald Trump said that he was waiting for a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin to start negotiations on the settlement of the Ukrainian conflict. The Republican added that if he were in the place of the current US leader Joe Biden, he would not have allowed such a crisis at all.

On 18 December, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov said that the North Atlantic Alliance's intentions to geopolitically absorb Ukraine were blocking the way to a long-term settlement of the conflict. According to him, the root of the Ukrainian crisis lies in the expansion of Washington-led NATO into the post-Soviet space.

The special operation to protect Donbass, the start of which was announced on February 24, 2022, continues. The decision was taken against the background of the aggravated situation in the region.