The Russian deputy -Minister of Foreign Affairs Alexander Grushko reportedly said that the Kremlin wants an “iron” guarantee North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), While the Trump administration works to close a deal to end the fighting.
“We will demand that the security guarantees of IronClad become part of this agreement,” Grushko was quoted by the Russian newspaper Izvestia, according to Reuters. “Some of these guarantees should be the neutral status of Ukraine, the refusal of NATO countries to accept it in the alliance.”
Grushko reportedly did not report the 30-day ceasefire proposal, which was accepted by Ukraine last week with American negotiators in Saudi Arabia. Russian President Vladimir Putin has stated that each agreement must first meet crucial conditions.
In this polar photo spread by the Russian state agency Sputnik, Russian President Vladimir Putin is chairman of a meeting of the Security Council via video conference in the Novo-Oogaryovo State Residence outside Moscow on March 14, 2025. (Aleksey Babushkin/Pool/AFP via Getty images)
The special envoy from the US to the Midden -East Steve Witkoff told CNN on Sunday that Trump and Putin are expected to speak on the phone this week. Witkoff himself described a “positive” and “solution -based” meeting with Putin in Moscow last week.
Grushko reportedly repeated in the interview with Izvestia that Russia is strictly, unlike the use of European troops in Ukraine, as Great -Britain, France and Australia have indicated that they are open to sending a “peace enforcement” power to the country.
“It does not matter under which label NATO quotas would be used on Ukrainian territory: albeit the European Union, NATO or in a national capacity,” said Grushko, says Reuters. “If they appear there, this means that they are used in the conflict zone with all the consequences for these quotas as parties in the conflict.”
The Russian deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Alexander Grushko lives on 11 March 2025 at a meeting of the Russian Minister of Foreign Affairs and the Secretary General of OSCE in Moscow. (Maxim Shemetov/Pool/AFP via Getty images)
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“We can talk about unarmed observers, a civil mission that would follow the implementation of individual aspects of this agreement, or guarantee warranty mechanisms,” Grushko added and said that a deal should first be reached. “In the meantime it is just hot air.”
United Kingdom Prime Minister Keir Starmer held a virtual meeting on Saturday with 26 countries that are potentially willing to be involved in a “peace enforcement” in Ukraine, the Telegraph reported.
French president Emmanuel Macron, In the meantime, it was quoted as telling various French media on Saturday that the intention is to use “on important points” a few thousand men per country to carry out training programs “and” to show our long -term support “.
“If Ukraine asks Allied troops to be on his territory, it is not up to Russia to accept or not,” Macron said.
French President Emmanuel Macron attends a video call while he participates in a virtual top of the British Prime Minister and focused on peace and safety in Ukraine, in the Elysee Palace in Paris on March 15, 2025. (Kiran Ridley/Pool/AFP via Getty images)
The Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese also said he would send his troops.
Grushko further argued that a solution for the three-year conflict could only be maintained if European allies would understand to Kiev that Ukraine should be excluded from NATO membership and foreign military quotas are kept out.
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“Then the safety of Ukraine and the entire region will be guaranteed in a broader sense, because one of the root causes of the conflict will be eliminated,” said Grushko.
