Russia has said that it was not satisfied with proposals reportedly made by US President-elect Donald Trump’s team to postpone Ukraine’s NATO membership and the deployment of peacekeepers, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said during an interview with the Russian News Agency TASS on Sunday (December 29).
Citing leaks and Trump’s interview with Time magazine on 12 December, Lavrov said, “He is talking about ‘freezing’ hostilities along the line of engagement and transferring further responsibility for confronting Russia to the Europeans. We are certainly not satisfied with the proposals made by representatives of the president-elect’s team to postpone Ukraine’s membership in NATO for 20 years and to deploy a peacekeeping contingent of ‘UK and European forces’ in Ukraine,” the Russian top diplomat said.
“Until January 20 – the date of inauguration – Donald Trump has the status of ‘president-elect,’ and all policy on all fronts is determined by the incumbent president and his administration. And so far, only the latter is authorised to engage with Russia on behalf of the United States,” he added.
“From time to time, as we are regularly informed, this happens, but there is no talk of negotiations on Ukraine in such contacts,” the Russian foreign minister said.
(With inputs from agencies)