The Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov has said they do take Washington’s ceasefire proposal “seriously” but they will not accept it “as they are now,” therefore the war will continue.
It is quite clear Vladimir Putin is deliberately dragging his feet and his intention is to take more Ukrainian territory in an attempt to successfully negotiate with the US President to force Ukraine to cede all occupied territory.
Ryabkov said during an interview with Russian magazine International Affairs Journal, “We have not heard a signal from Trump to Kyiv to end the war.
“All that exists today is an attempt to find some kind of a scheme that would first allow us to achieve a ceasefire, as the Americans think of it.”
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The Russian Deputy Foreign Minister insists that Washington’s ceasefire proposal fails to address the “root causes of this conflict.”
Last week Trump accused Russia of “dragging their feet” over the ceasefire proposals to end the war and the White House is growing more and more frustrated with Moscow.
Trump has threatened Putin with “secondary tariffs” he does not “make a deal” to end the war.
This comes a day after Trump told NBC News that he is “pissed off” and “very angry” that Putin is demanding a transitional pro-Russian government to replace President Volodymyr Zelensky.
Trump told reporters in the Oval Office, “I want to see (Putin) make a deal, so that we stop Russian soldiers and Ukrainian soldiers and other people from being killed.
“I want to make sure that he follows through, and I think he will. I don’t want to go secondary tariffs on his oil.
“But I think, you know, it’s something I would do if I thought he wasn’t doing the job.”
