The Russia Foreign Secretary Sergey Lavrov has said Moscow will only agree to a ceasefire in Ukraine once a “sustainable result” has been made that “suits” Vladimir Putin.
This comes as the White House has said a peace deal with Russia could be finalised this week as the US President Donald Trump announced another round of talks on 25 February in Saudi Arabia.
Russia’s controlled state news agency RIA Novosti reported, Lavrov saying, “The president (Vladimir Putin) has clearly said that we are ready to negotiate with Ukraine, with Europe, and with any representatives who, in a spirit of goodwill, would like to help achieve peace.”
“But we will cease hostilities only when these negotiations produce a firm, sustainable result that suits the Russian Federation.
“Of course, the realities on the ground must be considered,” Lavrov added.
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The Canada based The Globe and Mail newspaper reported citing a source that the US is ready to give up Ukrainian territory to Russia and wants to secure the rights to billions of dollars worth of Ukraine’s natural resources.
Trump held a call with the Canadian Prime Minster Justin Trudeau on 22 February and discussed the conditions of Ukrainian territory to be given to Putin.
Trudeau insisted that Ukraine needs security guarantees for any peace agreement with Moscow, and the deal must not be seen as giving into Russia.
The newspaper reported that Trump did not agree with the Canadian Prime Minister and that Trudeau did not oppose the decision over territory.
Freidrich Merz who is likely to be the next German Chancellor has slammed the US to strike a deal with Russia over Ukraine without Kyiv officials as they have been sidelined from the peace negotiations, which is unacceptable.
Merz said at a conference in Berlin, “We are certainly observing with great alarm this attempt to strike a deal with Russia on Ukraine behind the backs of the Europeans and Ukraine.
“It will come as no surprise to you that I will say this is unacceptable, both for Ukraine and for Europe.”
Lavrov said that a firm agreement from Trump is needed that Ukraine will never be allowed to join NATO.
Lavrov demanded, Respect for all these realities (including on the ground), is, of course, imperative, just as Ukraine’s non-admission to NATO is a must.
“A clear and ironclad agreement on this is needed. During the meeting with our American counterparts in Riyadh, we welcomed the fact that President Trump has publicly and repeatedly called the push to include Ukraine in NATO a mistake, stating that if he had been president during those years, he would never have allowed this policy to take hold, and thus would have averted the crisis taking place.
“However, there is no doubt that Ukraine’s NATO ambitions were one of the key root causes of what is happening.
“One of Donald Trump’s advisers stated that it is clear the war was provoked, and not necessarily by Russia.
“Washington under the Democrats, along with Brussels and the Brussels bureaucracy, has been preparing for this war for a long time. Of course, the second root cause is the genocide of all Russians and Russian-speaking residents of southeast Ukraine, who made their legitimate choice to return to their homeland.
“What security guarantees can we talk about? We discussed security guarantees in Istanbul in April 2022 on behalf of the five permanent members of the UN Security Council, as well as Turkey and Germany.
“However, this was under the condition of Ukraine‘s non-membership in NATO. We outlined in detail what that should look like.”
