Russian Foreign Minister Rejects Foreign Troop Deployment in Ukraine Peace Talks
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has dismissed the possibility of foreign troops being deployed to Ukraine as part of any peace agreement, a stance that threatens to complicate the ongoing U.S.-led initiatives aimed at resolving the conflict, reports 24brussels.
Lavrov’s remarks came during a meeting with India’s Foreign Minister in Moscow, following a week of heightened diplomatic activity among U.S. and European leaders discussing security guarantees for Kyiv prior to an anticipated trilateral peace summit involving the U.S., Russia, and Ukraine in the coming weeks.
Central to these discussions is a proposed ‘reassurance force’ comprising soldiers from European nations, intended to act as a deterrent against any future Russian aggression.
However, Lavrov declared on Thursday that Moscow considers the presence of foreign troops in Ukraine “absolutely unacceptable for Russia,” according to Russian state-controlled media outlet TASS.
Instead, Lavrov referenced a communiqué established by the warring parties at the onset of the full-scale invasion in 2022 as the framework for security guarantees.
This so-called Istanbul communiqué would compel Ukraine to refrain from joining any military alliances and prohibit the deployment of foreign military bases and contingents. Furthermore, it would require Ukraine to self-declare as a “permanently neutral state,” effectively barring any alignment with Europe or NATO.
Negotiations regarding this communiqué were halted in April 2022 after extensive evidence of war crimes surfaced in the newly liberated Ukrainian towns of Irpin and Bucha.
In response to Lavrov’s statements, EU Defence Commissioner Andrius Kubilius has criticized the situation on Bluesky, questioning who truly holds power in the Kremlin and highlighting the apparent discrepancy between Lavrov’s position and that of President Vladimir Putin.
