The Kremlin on Monday said that the position of US President Donald Trump’s administration on ruling out NATO membership for Ukraine gave Moscow satisfaction.
Recall that US envoy General Keith Kellogg said on Sunday that NATO membership was off the table for Ukraine.
The US President has repeatedly said that previous US support for Ukraine’s bid to join NATO was a cause of the war.
“We have heard from Washington at various levels that Ukraine’s membership in NATO is excluded. Of course, this is something that causes our satisfaction and coincides with our position,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.
According to Peskov, Ukrainian membership of the US-led alliance would pose a threat to the national interests of the Russian Federation.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has repeatedly said that Russia would be willing to end the war if Ukraine officially dropped its NATO ambitions and withdrew its troops from the entirety of the territory of four Ukrainian regions claimed and mostly controlled by Russia.
It was reported in November that Putin was ready to negotiate a deal with Trump, but would refuse to make major territorial concessions and would insist Kyiv abandon ambitions to join NATO.
Trump on Sunday said that he hopes Russia and Ukraine will make a deal this week to end the conflict in Ukraine.
