Russia says no peacekeepers in Ukraine ‘under any conditions’ as Trump reups threat of ‘devastating’ sanctions
WASHINGTON — The Russian government issued its strongest statement yet Wednesday against a provisional cease-fire agreed by the US and Ukraine a day earlier following marathon talks in Saudi Arabia.
“Nobody is talking to us,” Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said in an interview with pro-Kremlin US bloggers.
“They keep saying, ‘nothing about Ukraine without Ukraine,’ but they do everything about Russia without Russia.”
Lavrov also added that Russia would not accept peacekeeping troops from any NATO country on Ukrainian territory “under any conditions,” a direct rebuke to a proposal floated by French President Emmanuel Macron and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer.
Russian President Vladimir Putin also appeared in a Kremlin-produced video released Wednesday dressed in military camouflage — a rare occurrence — and vowing to regain all of the Kursk province held for seven months by Ukrainian forces.
During his remarks, Putin ominously added that any Ukrainians found on Russian land will be treated like “terrorists.”
A US delegation led by Secretary of State Marco Rubio agreed with their Ukrainian counterparts Tuesday to establish a 30-day ceasefire if Russia signed onto the deal — which Moscow has shown no inclination of doing.
The American team met last month with Russian officials, also in Saudi Arabia, to discuss a framework for warming bilateral relations and eventually talking about a peace deal with Ukraine.
In Washington, President Trump reiterated his threat to sanction Moscow if it did not agree to parley about Ukraine, saying he could unload “devastating” financial sanctions in response to Russian noncompliance.
“There are things that wouldn’t be pleasant in a financial sense. I can do things financially that would be very bad for Russia. I don’t want to do it that because I want to get peace,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office during his bilateral meeting alongside Irish Taoiseach Micheál Martin
“In a financial sense, yes we could do things that would be very bad for Russia, that would be devastating for Russia. But I don’t want to do that.”
Trump has dismissed the idea of Ukraine joining NATO, but was open to the presence of peacekeepers from individual countries.
The president even said he spoke to Putin about the peacekeeping possibility.
“Yeah, he will accept that. I’ve asked him that question,” Trump said in the Oval Office alongside Macron on Feb. 24.
“Look, if we do this deal, he’s not looking for more war. He doesn’t mind.”
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov responded by referring reporters to Lavrov’s comments from a week earlier following the US-Russia summit in Riyadh.
“We explained today, the appearance of armed forces from the same countries, albeit under a foreign flag, under the flag of the European Union or under national flags, does not change anything in this regard,” the Russian diplomat had said.
“This is, of course, unacceptable to us.”
The White House did not immediately respond to an inquiry from The Post.
