MOSCOW (Reuters) – The Kremlin said on Monday that the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump has given Moscow satisfaction in its stance on NATO membership, but declined to comment on Trump’s hopes for the deal this week.
U.S. envoy General Keith Kellogg said on Sunday that NATO membership was “victory.” Trump has repeatedly stated that the United States’ previous support for Ukraine’s accession to NATO was the cause of the war.
“We hear from all levels in Washington that Ukraine’s membership in NATO are excluded.
Peskov said Ukrainian membership in the U.S.-led coalition “posed a threat to the national interests of the Russian Federation. In fact, this is one of the root causes of this conflict.”
Putin repeatedly stated that Russia would be willing to end the war if Ukraine formally abandons its NATO ambitions and withdraws its troops from all territories in the four claimed and mostly controlled Ukrainian regions.
Reuters reported in November that Putin was preparing to reach a deal with Trump but would refuse to make major territorial concessions and insisted that Keefe gave up his ambition to join NATO.
Trump said on Sunday that he hopes Russia and Ukraine will reach an agreement this week to end the Ukrainian conflict.
When asked about the remarks, Peskov said: “I don’t want to make any comments right now, especially about the time frame.”
“President Putin and the Russian side are still seeking a peaceful solution. We will continue to work with the United States and of course, we hope this work will produce results,” Peskov said.
He declined to comment directly on Bloomberg’s report that the United States is ready to recognize Russia’s control over Crimea as part of a broader peace deal.
“Find a peaceful solution cannot be done, it should not be done in public,” Peskov said. “It should be done in an absolutely discrete mode.”
(Reported by Dmitry Antonov; Writing by Gleb Stolyarov; Editing by Guy Faulconbridge)
