Deputy foreign minister says Russia is not willing to compromise.
The Kremlin has warned that Russia’s relations with the United States are on the brink of collapse, insisting that all of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s conditions must be met before peace negotiations on Ukraine can proceed, suggesting Moscow is taking a hardline approach as President Donald Trump continues efforts to broker a peace deal.
Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov, a key figure in Russia’s diplomatic engagement with Washington, told a Feb. 10 press conference in Moscow that the Kremlin is not willing to compromise, reiterating that there can be no settlement in Ukraine without full compliance with Putin’s demands.
The “political solution as we envisage it cannot be achieved otherwise than through the full implementation of what was pronounced by President Putin when he spoke to the Russian Foreign Ministry in June,” Ryabkov said.
“This is where we are and the sooner U.S., Britain and others understand it, the better it would be and the closer this desired political solution will be for everyone,” the Russian diplomat added.
At the June 2024 meeting, Putin laid out his
conditions for peace talks, including Ukrainian troop withdrawals from disputed areas, Ukraine’s neutrality, the country’s “demilitarization,” and the removal of Western sanctions.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has rejected these conditions, stating they amount to a Ukraine surrender. Kyiv wants to join NATO and regain control of territory it lost to Russia in the war.
Trump, who has repeatedly vowed end the war in Ukraine swiftly,
said on Feb. 9 that he believed he was making progress on a peace deal between Russia and Ukraine.
However, Ryabkov warned that Moscow and Washington remain on the brink of a rupture, blaming the deteriorating relations on the Biden administration’s “hybrid warfare” policies and efforts to impose a strategic defeat on Russia,
according to Russian state-media Tass. The Russian diplomat added that this has worsened the “antagonistic content” of U.S.–Russian relations, making the situation “very critical.”
While acknowledging that Trump’s return to the White House “means a shift” in U.S. policy, Ryabkov expressed skepticism about any significant improvement in bilateral relations. He noted that Russia remains officially labeled as a “major adversary” in U.S. policy documents, limiting the potential for diplomatic progress.
Ryabkov added that while Russia and the United States have yet to agree on high-level contacts, communication channels remain open.
Putin has
said that Russia is ready for dialogue with the Trump administration regarding Ukraine and has signaled a
willingness to make some “compromises.” However, Ryabkov’s latest remarks suggest that the Kremlin remains firm on key demands, leaving little room for flexibility.
The Russian president has also
expressed confidence that Trump will be able to navigate the complexities of the conflict and establish the conditions for a long-term peace deal. Putin said, a
resolution “should not be a brief cease-fire, not some kind of period of respite that would allow a regrouping and rearmament of forces, but a long-term peace.”
Zelenskyy
floated a “victory plan” last year that centered on the idea of making significant battlefield gains and involving the use of Western-supplied weapons to strike deeper inside Russia. The plan also includes an offer to strategic partners like the United States for joint extraction of critical minerals, including rare earths.
Trump recently said that he was looking to strike a deal with Ukraine on securing rare earths—a group of 17 essential elements that play a key role in powering many modern technologies—in return for continued financial support for Ukraine in its war against Russia. Zelenskyy has
said he’s open to such a deal.
On Feb. 7, Trump said he will likely meet Zelenskyy in the coming weeks to discuss ending the war.
Reuters contributed to this report.
