Lavrov says Russian Federation does not accept Trump team's position on Ukraine

Russia is not satisfied with US President-elect Donald Trump's plans to freeze the conflict in Ukraine and Kiev's refusal to join NATO for 20 years. This was reported by Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on December 30.

He recalled that before Trump's inauguration, the current head of state Joe Biden determines the entire US policy in all directions, and at present Russia has not received any official signals on the settlement in Ukraine from his administration.

Thus, the diplomat noted, judging by numerous leaks and Trump's interview with Time magazine on December 12, he is talking about "freezing" hostilities along the line of contact and shifting the responsibility for helping Ukraine to European countries.

"We are certainly not satisfied with the proposals sounding on behalf of representatives of the president-elect's team to postpone Ukrainian membership in NATO for 20 years, as well as to introduce a peacekeeping contingent of "British and European forces" to Ukraine," the minister emphasized in an interview with TASS.

He said that Russia's position on the resolution of the Ukrainian crisis was widely known and had been voiced more than once, including by President Vladimir Putin. Russia was and remains ready for negotiations, the interlocutor of the publication summarized.

"But it is important to understand with whom and about what to negotiate. These are by no means idle questions. <...> I would like to emphasize that we can only talk about reliable, legally binding agreements, which should eliminate the root causes of the conflict and which should enshrine the mechanism of impossibility of their violation," Lavrov pointed out.

Among other things, he said that Russia is open to restoring the Russian-American political dialog, which was interrupted after the start of the special operation to protect Donbass. However, against this backdrop, it is Washington, which initiated the pause in the dialog and labeled Moscow as an adversary, that should make the first step in this regard.

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Earlier, on December 26, The Washington Post (WP) reported that Trump is making the European Union (EU) understand that he is going to cut aid to Ukraine. Specifically, he has not yet taken office, but he is already pressuring European countries to increase aid deliveries to Kiev. This is part of his strategy to hold Europe more accountable in the context of the Ukraine conflict.

At a Dec. 22 conference, Trump said he was looking forward to meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin to discuss a settlement in Ukraine. Russian presidential aide Yury Ushakov said on Dec. 23 that several states had offered themselves as a platform for Trump to meet with the Russian leader, but did not give specific examples.

Trump's team said on December 13 that it was discussing with the current White House administration and Ukrainian officials an end to the Ukrainian conflict. At the same time, Trump's special envoy for Ukraine Keith Kellogg admitted the end of this crisis in the coming months.

The special operation to protect Donbass, the start of which Russian President Vladimir Putin announced on February 24, 2022, continues. The decision was taken against the backdrop of the worsening situation in the region.