Russia sees 'positive signals' from Trump on Ukraine but wary of future actions

The Kremlin said Sunday that it saw “positive signals” from US president-elect Donald Trump’s position on Ukraine, while warning it was hard to predict how he would behave in office.

“The signals are positive. Trump during his election talked about how he perceives everything through deals, that he can make a deal that can lead to peace,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said in an interview with state media published Sunday.

But Peskov said it was hard to predict “to what extent he’s going to stick to statements that he made on the campaign trail”.

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said Saturday that Moscow and Washington were “exchanging signals” on Ukraine via “closed channels”. He did not specify whether the communication was with the current administration or Trump and members of his incoming administration.

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Russia is ready to listen to Trump’s proposals on Ukraine provided these were “ideas on how to move forward in the area of settlement, and not in the area of further pumping the Kyiv regime with all kinds of aid”, Ryabkov said on Saturday in an interview with Russian state news agency Interfax.

Trump himself has declined to rule out the possibility that Ukraine may have to cede land to Russia and has been notably vague when discussing the conflict. Some high-profile allies have put forth peace proposals that would in practice result in long-term Russian rule over areas that are internationally recognized as Ukrainian territory.

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Russia annexed the Crimea peninsula in 2014 after an uprising that prompted Ukraine’s Russia-friendly president to flee. More than 2 1/2 years after launching its full-fledged invasion, Russian forces hold just under 20% of its territory.

Zelenskiy has repeatedly said peace cannot be established until all Russian forces are expelled and all territory captured by Moscow, including Crimea, is returned. His “victory plan” presented last month maintains that provision as well as an invitation for Ukraine to join NATO, long denounced by Russia.

Ukraine has sought modern weapons from the United States as well as authorisation to use them on Russian targets but it has never called for U.S. forces to be deployed on its territory.
Russian troops failed in their initial advance on the Ukrainian capital Kyiv but in recent months have been capturing a string of villages on the eastern front.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said in June that conditions for peace talks included Ukraine abandoning the four regions Moscow has annexed, though it does not have full control over them.

With inputs from agencies.