Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on Tuesday decried Western proposals to send troops to Ukraine to maintain a potential peace deal, calling it “completely unacceptable.”
Speaking to reporters after the high-stakes talks with top US diplomats in Riyadh on ending Moscow’s Ukraine invasion, Lavrov rejected all proposals of foreign troop deployments to Ukraine, NATO or not.
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Lavrov reiterated the Kremlin’s narrative that NATO’s eastward expansion is to blame for Moscow’s invasion.
“President [Vladimir] Putin stressed more than once that NATO’S expansion and the absorption of Ukraine by NATO was a direct threat to the Russian Federation and our sovereignty,” Lavrov said.
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“And we explained today that any appearance by armed forces from the NATO countries under some flag, under the European flag or under [any] flags, doesn’t change anything. It is of course completely unacceptable,” he added, according to The Guardian.
Following the talks on Tuesday, the US and Russia agreed to partially restore embassy staffing and the exploration of economic interests with Russia after the invasion was over.
However, details of an in-person meeting between US President Donald Trump and Russian leader Vladimir Putin have yet to be determined.
On Monday, British Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said London is open to sending troops to Ukraine as part of future security guarantees. However, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz rejected the idea for German troops, calling it “premature” later the same day.
Both Washington and Moscow ruled out Ukrainian and European participation in current talks, with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky vowing not to recognize the results in Riyadh due to Kyiv’s lack of participation.
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