 "Russian tanks moving during the war on Ukraine. (Photo: Reuters)")
Russia has said it would discuss the truce proposal that came out of the US-Ukraine talks earlier this week.
Russian Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Maria Zakharova on Thursday said that talks with the United States on the truce proposal could take place as early as today.
“We are ready to discuss the initiatives set out there in future contacts with the United States. Such contacts are already possible as early as today,” said Zakharova.
Earlier this week, US and Ukrainian delegations held talks in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday. They discussed the ways to end the war and proposed a partial 30-day ceasefire as a stepping stone to long-term peace. Ukraine is on board with the proposal and both Ukraine and the United States have said that the ball is now in Russia’s court.
Separately, Reuters has reported that Russia has conveyed its list of demands to the United States. While the news agency did not mention specific demands, it reported two people familiar with the matter as saying that the demands are broad and similar to demands conveyed previously to the United States, Ukraine, and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (Nato).
In recent years, Russia has conveyed a long list of maximalist demands, such as Ukraine giving up vast swathes of land, limiting the size of its military, not hosting foreign troops on its soil, include Russian language in official business, and Russia’s presence among security guarantors and veto on matters of security guarantees.
Impact Shorts
View AllRussia conveys demands as Zelenskyy puts ball in its court
At a time when the pressure has publicly moved from Ukraine to Russia, at least for now, Russia has conveyed its demands, two sources told Reuters.
The sources did not specify but said that the demands are in line with those raised by Russia in recent years. In addition to the demands mentioned above, Russia has stressed in recent years that the United States and Nato should address what Russia calls “root cause” of the war — the eastward expansion of Nato.
US President Donald Trump and his allies are on board on the demand. Trump has falsely slammed his predecessor Joe Biden for provoking Russia by promising Nato membership to Ukraine and blaming the war on Nato’s expansion. Realistically, however, Nato membership was never close for Ukraine.
Sources said that Russia’s demands are part of both the peace initiative for the war in Ukraine and resetting the relationship with the United States.
US still assessing if Russia really wants peace, says Rubio
So far, even as Trump has realigned the United States with Russia by ditching Europe, all sanctions remain in place on Russia and the United States continues to remain engaged with Europe in the continent’s defence against Russian aggression — at least on paper for now.
As far as the US perception of Russia’s stand on peace talks is concerned, the agency reported that Russian leader Vladimir Putin’s commitment to a potential ceasefire agreement is still uncertain even as details are yet to be finalised.
Notably, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has repeatedly said that the Trump administration has not yet learnt whether Russia actually wants to negotiate a peace agreement. In remarks to the press after talks in Saudi Arabia, Rubio said that the Trump administration hopes Russia would say yes to the partial ceasefire proposal and a refusal would mean that it is not interested in peace.
“If their response is yes, then we know we’ve made real progress and there’s a real chance of peace. If their response is no, it’ll be highly unfortunate, and it’d make their intentions clear. So that’s what we’re hoping to hear from them,” said Rubio.
In a previous interview with journalist Catherine Herridge, Rubio last month said that it was not yet known whether Russia wants to end the war with Ukraine.
Rubio said, “The only way is to test them, to basically engage them and say, OK, are you serious about ending the war? And if so, what are your demands? Are your public demands and your private demands different? We have to have some process by which we engage in that conversation. Now, it may turn out that they don’t want to end the war. I don’t know. We’re going to find out.”
When pressed on the issue further, Rubio added, “So at the end, they’re either interested or they’re not. If the demands they make for ending the war are maximalist and unrealistic, then I think we have our answer. If, on the other hand, there’s any opportunity to pursue peace, we have to do it.”