EU troops in Ukraine "unacceptable": Kremlin rejects Trump statement
Trump is pushing for a rapid end to the war in Ukraine. But his proposal to station European peacekeeping troops displeases the Kremlin.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has indirectly rejected a statement by US President Donald Trump on the stationing of European peacekeepers in Ukraine. Trump claimed on Monday that he had spoken to Russian President Vladimir Putin about the issue and that Putin had "nothing against it" . At a press briefing on Tuesday, reported by the Russian newspaper Vedomosti , Peskov now cast doubt on this.
When asked about the Kremlin's position on British Prime Minister Keir Starmer's proposal to send peacekeepers to Ukraine, Peskov reportedly said he had nothing to add to a previous statement by Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov . Lavrov had stated that stationing NATO troops in Ukraine was "unacceptable" for Russia. Moscow would view this as a "direct threat" to Russian sovereignty, even if the troops there were operating under a different flag.
The deployment of European peacekeeping troops is ultimately about sending military contingents from NATO states to Ukraine, Peskov said in the briefing. This takes on "a completely different meaning from the point of view of our security."
On February 17, Starmer announced Britain's willingness to guarantee Ukraine's security and facilitate an end to the war by sending troops to Ukraine.
French President Emmanuel Macron also recently declared on Monday at a meeting with Trump in Washington that Europe was ready to station peacekeepers in Ukraine to secure a possible ceasefire. Macron went on to say that the goal was to ultimately reach a peace agreement and begin the reconstruction of Ukraine with the help of security guarantees. "We have a role to play in this," said Macron.
US efforts to reach a peace agreement in the war between Ukraine and Russia have recently gained momentum. Talks between the Russian and American foreign ministers on the subject took place for the first time last Tuesday in Riyadh. However, neither Ukraine nor the Europeans are involved in the talks so far. Trump had previously announced, however, that he saw the Europeans as responsible for securing such an agreement.
Berliner-zeitung
