MOSCOW: The Kremlin said on Monday that the position of US President Donald Trump’s administration on ruling out NATO membership for Ukraine gave Moscow satisfaction, but declined to comment on Trump’s hopes for a peace deal this week.
Trump, seeking to be remembered as a peacemaker, has repeatedly said he wants to end the “bloodbath” of the three-year conflict in Ukraine - which his administration casts as a proxy war between the United States and Russia.
U.S. envoy General Keith Kellogg said on Sunday that NATO alliance membership was “off the table” for Ukraine. Trump has said past U.S. support for that was a
cause of the war.
“We have heard from Washington at various levels that Ukraine’s membership in NATO is excluded,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters. “Of course, this is something that causes us satisfaction and coincides
with our position.”
Ukrainian membership of the U.S.-led alliance would threaten Russian interests, Peskov added. “And, in fact, this is one of the root causes of this conflict.”
President Vladimir Putin ordered troops into Ukraine in 2022, triggering the worst confrontation between Moscow and the West since the depths of the Cold War.
Trump said on Sunday he hopes Russia and Ukraine will make a deal this week to end the conflict. “BOTH WILL THEN START TO DO BIG BUSINESS WITH THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, WHICH IS THRIVING, AND MAKE A FORTUNE!” Trump said
in a post.