Russia plans to ensure that NATO excludes Ukraine from membership and maintains neutrality in any peace agreement, the Russian vice minister said.
“We require that Ironclad’s security guarantee be part of this agreement,” Alexander Grushko told Russian media outlet Izvestia.
“Part of these guarantees should be that Ukraine’s neutral position and that NATO countries refuse to accept it in their alliance,” he said.
President Donald Trump and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin are expected to speak in the coming days as talks continue over a possible ceasefire in the three-year war in Ukraine.
The US and Ukraine have agreed to propose a 30-day ceasefire against Russia.
Although Putin said he supported the ceasefire, he also set a list of strict conditions for achieving peace.
One area of competition is the West Kursk region of Russia, where Ukraine began a military invasion last August, gaining several territory.
Putin claims that Russia has full control of Kursk, and said the Ukrainian forces there are “isolated.”
He also raised many questions about how ceasefires can be monitored and policed along the Eastern frontline.
Meanwhile, Ukrainian President Voldimir Zelensky accused Putin of trying to “stoop” diplomatic efforts to ensure an immediate ceasefire.
US envoy Steve Witkov, who met with Putin on Thursday in Moscow, told CNN he expects there will be a “phone” between Trump and Putin this week.
During his campaign, Trump repeatedly promised to end the war. It began in 2022 with a serious invasion of neighbors on the “first day” of the new administration.
Less than a month after he took office, Trump is reportedly calling him Putin and will last 90 minutes about immediately starting negotiations to end the war.
Witkov refused to answer questions about how Ukraine’s Russian-occupied land could be addressed with a potential deal. Russia currently controls one-fifth of Ukraine.
