Russia declares readiness for peace, but without concessions on territories and NATO troops in Ukraine

Sergei Ryabkov said that Russia is ready for peace, but without concessions of territory. Photo: TASS

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Riabkov has said that Moscow declares its readiness to conclude a peace agreement, but does not intend to make concessions on the issue of territories.

In an interview with ABC News, he reiterated the Kremlin's position on the so-called «five regions» that Russia considers to be the subject of its claims. These are the temporarily occupied Crimea, as well as Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions.

Sergei Riabkov stressed that the Russian side does not consider the possibility of compromise on this issue and considers it a matter of principle.

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In addition, he stated Moscow's categorical position against the possible deployment of NATO troops in Ukraine after the war. According to him, Russia will not agree to any agreement that provides for the presence of foreign troops — regardless of the format of security guarantees or the participation of the so-called «Coalition of the Willing».

Despite the harsh rhetoric, the Russian official claims that Moscow is interested in ending the war and is ready to reach an agreement. At the same time, he made it clear that further developments, in his opinion, depend on the position of the parties supporting the Ukrainian government.

«We are doing what we are doing, we want to stop it. Whether this will be stopped depends largely on how people who support the government in Kyiv realise the inevitable outcome of our success,» said Sergei Riabkov.

As a reminder, during the talks in Berlin, US negotiators Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner put pressure on the Ukrainian side to give up the Kyiv-controlled part of Donbas as a condition for starting peace talks with Russia.

At the same time, according to Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the United States is offering compromise options, including the idea of creating a free economic zone. He stressed that such a model in no way implies governance by the Russian Federation.

Volodymyr Zelenskyy also said that Kyiv's position on Donbas remains unchanged — Ukraine will not agree to recognise this territory as Russian, either in fact or in law.