Russian MFA: Moscow open to hearing Trump’s proposals on Ukraine

Russia is prepared to consider proposals from US President-elect Donald Trump regarding the resolution of the situation in Ukraine, although there is no simple solution, according to Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov.

"The latter is beyond any doubt. It is unconditional," Ryabkov told Russian media when asked if Moscow was ready to listen to Trump's ideas on Ukraine, Caliber.Az reports.

“We are extremely thorough, responsible, and attentive to any ideas that are proposed by countries in this sphere,” Ryabkov stated.

Citing recent initiatives, Ryabkov mentioned, “One does not need to go far for examples: the China-Brazil initiative, which we also criticise for its obvious shortcomings, is one of the fresh such examples of important states addressing a ‘hot’ issue, potentially very dangerous for the whole international security in general.”

Ryabkov added, “If there are any signals from the American side that they have ideas on how to move forward in the plane of settlement, and not in the plane of further pumping the Kyiv regime with all kinds of assistance in the expectation that this will eventually lead to the same strategic defeat of Moscow, we will certainly do our utmost to analyse this and work out a response.”

He emphasized that while declarations and statements are significant, concrete actions are crucial. “Declarations, statements, promises, some signals are of course important,” Ryabkov noted.

“From the American side, they come on different lines and at all levels, and it is all recorded. But actions are needed, and we will give our assessments on specific cases of the future administration. The 47th now US president has become known, and he is known to us from his previous walk in power. I think that some messages from his side regarding a super-fast settlement of the situation in Ukraine are nothing more than rhetoric, nothing more than a way to draw additional attention to himself during the pre-election period.”

He underscored that a straightforward resolution to the Ukraine conflict is unrealistic. “There can be no simple solution to this problem or these problems related to what is happening in and around Ukraine,” Ryabkov explained.

Outlining Russia’s stance, he said, “And the path we propose to move along — it is the only realistic one. It was defined during the president’s speech at the Foreign Ministry on June 14 and subsequently outlined and specified many times, including the speech at Valdai.”

Ryabkov stressed that both the current and incoming US administrations should heed these signals seriously. “The US administration should take these signals very seriously — both the outgoing administration and the future administration,” he remarked.

“We have no conjunctural fluctuations and no making our fundamental interests dependent on who ends up in the Oval Office of the White House,” Ryabkov concluded. “This, by the way, was made quite clear in the Russian Foreign Ministry’s statement issued the day after the US election.”

By Tamilla Hasanova