Russia says it cannot accept US proposals on Ukraine ‘in current form’ fail to address root causes

Russia cannot accept US proposals to end the war in Ukraine in their current form because they do not address problems Moscow regards as having caused the conflict, a senior Russian diplomat said, suggesting US-Russia talks on the subject had stalled.

The comments by Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov suggest Moscow and Washington have so far been unable to bridge differences which President Vladimir Putin raised more than two weeks ago when he said US proposals needed reworking.

The United States’ proposed frameworks for resolving the Ukraine conflict do not address its root causes, something that must be addressed, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov said in an interview with the International Affairs magazine.

"We haven’t heard [US President Donald] Trump send a clear signal to Kiev to end the war. What we have today is an effort to find a framework that would make it possible to ensure America's vision for a ceasefire. The idea is to then move on to some other models and frameworks, which, as far as we can see, leave no room for Russia’s core demand, that is, the need to resolve the issues stemming from the root causes of this conflict," he pointed out. "There is nothing like that at all, and this needs to be addressed," Raybkov added.

The senior Russian diplomat stressed that Moscow takes Washington’s proposals on Ukraine seriously but can not take them "as they are." "We have a thoroughly developed set of priorities and approaches to this issue, carefully crafted by our negotiation team, including during recent talks with the Americans in Riyadh," he noted.