Moscow has explained that its latest US peace proposal is unacceptable to the Kremlin, highlighting that since Donald Trump took office in January, he has pledged his promise to end the war in Ukraine.
Sergei Liabkov, a foreign policy adviser to Vladimir Putin, said some of Russia’s important demands were not addressed by the US proposal to end the war, in comments showing rare approval from the Russian side, which has stagnated talks with the US over Ukraine for several weeks.
“We take the models and solutions proposed by Americans very seriously, but we cannot accept them all in our current form,” Lyabakov quoted from state media as telling Russian magazines’ international affairs. This came on Sunday after Trump revealed his frustration with Putin, saying he was “offended” and threatened to impose tariffs on Russian oil exports.
“What we have today is an attempt to find some frameworks that will first allow for a ceasefire, at least as Americans expect,” Lyabakov said.
“As far as we can see, there is no place in them today for our main demand, that is, to resolve the problems related to the root cause of this conflict.”
Putin has repeatedly mentioned what he claimed was the “root cause” of the conflict to justify his hard-line position on future deals to end the war in Ukraine.
As a prerequisite for a ceasefire, Russian leaders argued that in fact Ukraine would be dismantled as an independent and functional state.
He demanded that Kiev recognize the annexation of Russia’s Crimea and the annexation of four partially occupied regions in the southeast, and vow to withdraw the force from those regions, join NATO, and agree to the condemnation.
In recent weeks, the Russian president has openly pushed for a change of government in Ukraine, claiming that Volodymyr Zelenskyy has no legitimacy to sign a peace agreement, suggesting that Ukraine needs external governance.
Trump appears to be increasingly impatience at the lack of progress in the war that he promised to end in 24 hours.
Trump’s comments that he was “offended” with Putin on the Russian leader’s approach to the potential ceasefire in Ukraine was a noticeable shift in tone from a leader who previously praised Putin. But Trump later retreated his rhetoric and accused Ukraine of trying to renegotiate economic deals with the United States by Monday.
The White House on Tuesday said Trump was unhappy with leaders on both sides of the war.
Despite gusts of winds from a US-brokered conference between Saudi Arabia and Russia with Ukraine and parallel talks that produced a 30-day energy ceasefire on paper, both sides continue to attack each other’s energy infrastructure.
The Trump administration also sought to mediate a ceasefire in the Black Sea, but Moscow tried to attach several terms to the deal, including easing European sanctions.
Grigory Karasin, who represented Russia in Saudi Arabia’s talks with the US, acknowledged last week that the sides were unable to make significant progress and negotiations could be dragged down next year.
But Trump’s team has said that the US leader is committed to stopping the war by telling NBC that he and Putin are planning to talk again this week.
Finnish president Alexander Stubb, who spent time with Trump over the weekend, said Putin proposed setting an April 20 deadline to comply with the full ceasefire.
However, people close to the Kremlin believe it is unlikely that Moscow will accept a complete ceasefire without securing some of its demands. This includes the suspension of all weapons and information supplies from the US and other allies to Ukraine.
“We are ready to continue fighting for a while,” said Fyodor Lukyanov, a well-known Russian foreign policy analyst who leads the council advising the Kremlin. “The continued war that we are slowly and surely winning is our interest, especially given the appearance of our major sponsors (US) being retreated… why should we rush to this situation?”
