Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said, in an interview with the French magazine Le Point, that President Donald Trump has never given Moscow a deadline on a ceasefire agreement in Ukraine. “Trump has never named any dates. We, too, don’t think that setting a deadline would be appropriate. Because [Russian President Vladimir] Putin supports the ceasefire,” TASS quoted Peskov as saying.
Asked about a possible meeting between Putin and Trump, Peskov noted that both “want to achieve results.” “It should be a productive meeting. That is why preparatory work is underway,” he said. Peskov emphasized that talks on restoring U.S.-Russian relations and a settlement in Ukraine are “two completely different issues. But it is impossible to resolve the conflict with Ukraine without restoring normal relations between Washington and Moscow,” he added.
“Their positions are close in some areas, but this does not mean that they agree on everything,” Peskov said, referring to the two Presidents. “Defending the interests of their countries is the priority for both of them.” “What they have in common is that they both see the absurdity of refusing to engage in dialogue. What unites them is that they are ready to solve the most difficult issues through discussions,” he noted. Peskov stressed the divergence between the U.S. and Europe on the war in Ukraine. “There are no coinciding positions now, as Europe wants war, not negotiations. We will not drag them there by force,” he said.
Peskov also stressed that withdrawal of the Ukrainian military from the territories of Russia’s constituent regions of Donbass and Novorossiya is necessary in order to establish peace in Ukraine. He recalled that these regions are enshrined in the Russian Constitution as an integral part of it, as a result of the referenda of September 2022.
Peskov also dismissed claims that the Baltic states are next, after Russia finishes ostensibly conquering Ukraine. “Russia has no problems with the Baltic states and no territorial claims against them, even though Russians live there and their interests are constantly trampled—this particularly concerns the use of the Russian language. Brussels, by the way, does not pay the slightest attention to this,” said Peskov. “Fortunately, there is no civil war in the Baltic states, during which a regular army would exterminate Russians only because of their nationality,” Peskov went on to say.
