Foreign Minister Lavrov Says Russia Is Not Satisfied With Donald Trump's Proposal On Ukraine's NATO Membership

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov while attending the G20 Summit. (Twitter/@mfa_russia)

JAKARTA - Secretary of State Sergey Lavrov said in an interview Russia was dissatisfied with the suggestion of United States President-elect Donald Trump's team to postpone membership of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) for Ukraine for 20 years, as well as plans to deploy a contingent of EU and UK peacekeeping forces there.

"Judging from the many leaks and Donald Trump's own interview with Time magazine on December 12, he spoke of a hostile 'freezing' along the line of engagement and transferring further responsibility to face Russia to Europe," he said in an interview with TASS, as quoted December 30.

"We certainly are not satisfied with the proposal made by representatives of the elected presidential team to postpone Ukraine's membership in NATO for 20 years and deploy a 'British and European troops' peacekeeping contingent in Ukraine," the top Russian diplomat stressed.

At the same time, Foreign Minister Lavrov noted Moscow had not received any official signals from the United States regarding Ukraine's current settlement.

"As of January 20 - the inauguration date - Donald Trump has the status of 'elected president', and all policies in all lines are determined by the incumbent president and his government. And so far, only his government has the authority to cooperate with Russia on behalf of the United States," Foreign Minister Lavrov explained.

"From time to time, as we get information on a regular basis, this is happening, but there is no talk of negotiations about Ukraine in such contact."

It is known, Donald Trump said the Russian-Ukraine war's desire to end, pledging to complete it in the first 24 hours of his term as president, quoted from RBC Ukraine.

Trump's plans to end the war in Ukraine have just been developed, and the media-published thesis is not the official position of Trump's administration. Quoted from The Week, Trump's team submitted a suggestion in early November.