Russia says it blames NATO expansion for its decision to invade Ukraine twice, and consequently feels very “negatively” about the prospect of a Western peacekeeping force enforcing a ceasefire or any other deal in the future.
European troops would be viewed as a North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) deployment to Ukraine even if they don’t officially serve under a NATO banner or leadership, Russia said, claiming there is no meaningful difference. Speaking to the press in Moscow on Wednesday morning, President Vladimir Putin’s personal spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, also said Russia blamed the West for the Kremlin’s decision to invade Ukraine.
Commenting on the ‘Coalition of the Willing’ plan led by the United Kingdom and France to put Western boots on the ground in Ukraine to police any future peace deal, Peskov said that Russia views it “negatively” and said: “There are no European servicemen; there are servicemen from specific countries, most of which are NATO members.
“The expansion of NATO military infrastructure and its infiltration into Ukraine has become one of the root causes of the current conflict. That’s why we view such discussions negatively,” he added.
Peskov’s comments are not the first time that Russia has signalled its willing to stall the peace talk process over the European plan, coordinated with U.S. President Donald Trump, to prevent its eastern neighbours Ukraine and Russia from future conflict with the deployment of troops.
As reported last week, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov called European nations inserting themselves into the peace process “clumsy” and said any foreign military deployment to Ukraine would be “absolutely unacceptable”. Lavrov also said Russia must be involved in any negotiations on post-peace security arrangements, warning any talks on how to keep Ukraine secure in future that Russia wasn’t present for would simply be a “road to nowhere”.
Ukraine accused Russia of trying to derail peace talks for these and other remarks. President Volodymyr Zelensky said last week: “It is at the leadership level that the issue of ending the war should be resolved, but we now see that the Russians are doing everything they can to prevent the meeting from taking place. Unlike Russia, Ukraine is not afraid of any meetings with leaders. We are ready to work productively, to the maximum extent possible.”
On Wednesday, Zelensky said more pressure needed to be brought to bear on Russia to force it to stop attacking Ukraine and to get security guarantees for the future.
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