Russia says it takes U.S. proposals for a ceasefire in Ukraine “seriously” but cannot accept them in their “current form,” arguing they fail to address what Moscow considers the “root causes” of the conflict.
U.S. President Donald Trump, who says he wants to be remembered as a peacemaker, has moved swiftly to end the three-year war, with his administration holding separate talks with Kyiv and Moscow.
Earlier in March, Ukraine agreed to a U.S.-backed 30-day ceasefire proposal, but Russian President Vladimir Putin rejected it, offering only a temporary halt to attacks on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure.
Since then, both sides have accused each other of violating the energy ceasefire.
The future of a Black Sea ceasefire agreed upon last week also remains uncertain, as Moscow has tied it to the lifting of international sanctions on Russian agricultural exports and restoring links between some Russian banks and the global financial system.
In an interview with the magazine “International Affairs” on Tuesday, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said: “We take the models and solutions proposed by the Americans very seriously, but we can’t accept it all in its current form.
“As far as we can see, there is no place in them today for our main demand, namely to solve the problems related to the root causes of this conflict.”
Among Russia’s key demands for a peace settlement is a guarantee that Ukraine will not join NATO and that the Ukrainian regions it currently partially occupies must be recognized as part of Russia.
It has also called for an end to Western military aid to Ukraine.
The demands have been rejected by Kyiv.
Trump, who has taken a more conciliatory stance toward Russia than his predecessor, acknowledged last week that Moscow might be stalling peace negotiations.
On Monday, he warned that the U.S. would consider imposing 25%-50% tariffs on countries purchasing Russian oil if he believed Moscow was not cooperating.
