Russia welcomes US proposal to deny NATO membership to Ukraine

Moscow remains uncommitted to reaching a quick deal on the Ukraine war, while the US is awaiting Kyiv’s response to the proposal.

A visitor stands beside graves decorated with Ukrainian flags at the Lychakiv Military Cemetery on Easter Sunday in Lviv. Picture: AFP

Russia said it was pleased with a Trump administration proposal to rule out Ukraine joining the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation as a way to end the war but showed no urgency in reaching a deal.

The administration presented the idea as part of a package of proposals to Ukrainian and European officials last week, The Wall Street Journal has reported. The US is awaiting Kyiv’s response, which is expected during a meeting with Ukrainian and European officials in London later this week. If the American, European and Ukrainian positions align, the proposals might then be presented to Moscow.

“We have heard from Washington at various levels that Ukraine’s membership in NATO is out of the question,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Monday (local time). “This is something that satisfies us and coincides with our position.”

Mr Peskov, however, declined to comment on the prospects of an agreement on solving the conflict and “especially about a time frame.”

President Trump on Sunday said he hoped Ukraine and Russia would make a deal this week.

Later Monday, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that Moscow had a “positive attitude” toward any peace initiatives but that Kyiv needed to show a similar willingness. He said fighting had resumed after the Easter ceasefire he had declared, which didn’t actually lead to a halt in the shooting. Analysts said Putin’s call for a ceasefire was likely a gambit aimed at Mr Trump, who had threatened to stop pursuing peace talks.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Monday he spoke with the British Prime Minister Keir Starmer ahead of this week’s meeting in London. He said Ukraine was ready to move constructively toward an end to the conflict.

“An unconditional ceasefire must be the first step toward peace, and this Easter made it clear that it is Russia’s actions that are prolonging the war,” Mr Zelensky said in a post on X.

Attempts by the Trump administration to negotiate an end to the Russia-Ukraine war have been unsuccessful thus far. Although the US has held multiple rounds of talks, including the first direct dialogue between Washington and Moscow since the full-scale invasion, the efforts haven’t halted the fighting. Moscow has been slow-walking the peace talks, calculating that battlefield gains give it more leverage for maximum concessions in the discussions.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Friday that the US would shift to other diplomatic priorities if it determined that a deal wasn’t doable in the next few weeks. Mr Trump later said the US was “going to take a pass” if either Moscow or Kyiv were hindering progress on a peace deal.

The Kremlin’s comments Monday came as the brief Easter ceasefire proclaimed by Mr Putin, which didn’t actually stop the shooting, expired overnight. The principal audience for Mr Putin’s gambit was likely Mr Trump, following the US president’s threat to stop pursuing peace in Ukraine, analysts said.

Russia has long claimed that Ukraine joining NATO is unacceptable, viewing it as a direct threat to its security and an encroachment into what it considers its sphere of influence.

“Ukraine should not be a member of NATO and should not have prospects for integration with it,” Mr Peskov said. “This would be a threat to the national interests of the Russian Federation. And this is one of the root causes of the conflict.”

Western officials have countered that NATO is a defensive alliance that isn’t threatening Moscow, and Ukraine as an independent nation has the right to choose its own security arrangements and alliances.

Besides excluding Ukraine from NATO, the Trump administration’s proposals include potential US recognition of Russia’s 2014 annexation of Crimea. Another US idea calls for designating the territory around the nuclear reactor in Zaporizhzhia as neutral territory that could be under American control.

The ideas were outlined in a confidential document presented by senior Trump administration officials to their Ukrainian counterparts in Paris on Thursday, the Journal reported. They were also shared with senior European officials.

Mr Peskov on Monday declined to comment on US peace proposals beyond the one regarding Ukrainian NATO membership, saying efforts to resolve the conflict shouldn’t take place in public.

“There are many such reports now, many discussions,” he said. “Of course, work on finding ways to peacefully resolve the situation cannot and should not take place in the public arena. It should take place in an absolutely discreet mode.”

Dow Jones