Russia can not accept USA's plans for Ukraine conflict resolution

Russia believes that USA's current plans for ending the conflict in Ukraine do not address the root causes of the crisis, Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov stated.

Russia seeks to resolve the underlying causes that led to the crisis in Ukraine as part of a settlement process. Therefore, Moscow can not accept US proposals for resolving the ongoing conflict, Ryabkov said in an interview with International Affairs magazine.

"We take very seriously the models and solutions that the Americans propose, but we can not accept them outright. We have a well-developed and carefully considered set of priorities and approaches to this issue that we have elaborated, including during the recent talks with the Americans in Riyadh," the diplomat said.

According to Ryabkov, Washington is currently focused on achieving a ceasefire, but its vision for a settlement does not yet include the need to address the root causes of the conflict.

As preconditions for initiating a peace process, Russia demands:

• the withdrawal of Ukrainian forces from four newly incorporated regions,
• Ukraine’s renunciation of NATO membership,
• Ukraine's neutral status,
• international recognition of Crimea, Sevastopol, Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson, and Zaporizhzhia as Russian territory,
• and the lifting of sanctions.

President Vladimir Putin also emphasized the need to halt foreign military aid and intelligence-sharing to prevent further escalation.

Notably, US President Donald Trump also rejects Ukraine’s potential NATO membership. He has pointed out that Moscow, even before Vladimir Putin came to power, had declared that Kyiv’s accession to the alliance would not be allowed. According to Trump, the conflict in Ukraine started because of Ukraine's aspiration to NATO. He expressed confidence that Russia would agree to a deal on Ukraine. If not, Trump threatened to impose secondary tariffs on Russian oil, making it more difficult for its buyers to conduct business in the United States.

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Sergei Alexeyevich Ryabkov (Russian: Сергей Алексеевич Рябков; born 8 July 1960) is a Russian diplomat, currently serving as the Deputy Foreign Minister of the Russian Federation since 2008. Ryabkov was born in Leningrad in 1960. At age 22, in 1982, he graduated from the Moscow State Institute of International Relations. Upon graduation, he immediately joined the Russian Foreign Ministry.