Russia's top diplomat said Tuesday that Moscow is open for talks with President-elect Donald Trump and praised him for pointing to NATO's plan to embrace Ukraine as a root cause of the nearly 3-year-old conflict, per the AP. Any prospective peace talks should involve broader arrangements for security in Europe, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said at his annual news conference, while adding that Moscow is open to discussing security guarantees for Kyiv. Lavrov specifically praised Trump's comments earlier this month in which he said that NATO's plans to open its doors to Ukraine had led to the hostilities.
Trump said Russia had it "written in stone" that Ukraine's membership in NATO should never be allowed, but the Biden administration had sought to expand the military alliance to Russia's doorstep. Trump added, "I could understand their feelings about that." Ukraine and its allies have denounced Russia's action as an unprovoked act of aggression. But "NATO did exactly what it had promised not to do, and Trump said that," Lavrov said. "It marked the first such candid acknowledgement not only from a US but any Western leader that NATO had lied when they signed numerous documents. They were used as a cover while NATO has expanded to our borders in violation of the agreements." The West has dismissed that assessment.
Lavrov emphasized that Russian President Vladimir Putin has declared his openness for talks with Trump, adding that Moscow looks forward to hearing Trump's view on Ukraine after he takes office. (Trump has been hinting about a meeting with Putin.)
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