No talks on foreign troop presence in Ukraine, Russia states via Lavrov
Photo: Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova (Getty Images)
Russia will not discuss ideas about the deployment of foreign troops in Ukraine in any format.
This was stated by Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova, according to pro-Kremlin TASS and other Russian media.
On the sidelines of the Eastern Economic Forum (EEF), Maria Zakharova gave a press briefing. As usual, she did not avoid the subject of Ukraine, commenting to the press on EU plans for a possible deployment of troops as part of providing security guarantees.
"Russia is not going to discuss a fundamentally unacceptable foreign intervention in Ukraine, which undermines any security. This needs to be somehow conveyed to them (the West), so that next time, when they want to reflect on this topic, they have a reminder in the form of Russia’s position," Zakharova said.
She also claimed that the security guarantees requested by Ukraine would in fact become "guarantees of insecurity" for the European continent.
In addition, Zakharova commented on Washington’s approval of a possible deal to sell missiles and other weapons to Ukraine. She argued that such a decision allegedly contradicts the White House’s words about resolving the conflict between Russia and Ukraine.
Security guarantees for Ukraine
After the summit in Alaska and the visit of Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy and European leaders to the White House, the West and Kyiv began discussing security guarantees for postwar Ukraine.
These include ensuring safety in the air, at sea, and on land. Among the ideas under discussion is the possible deployment of foreign troops on Ukrainian territory. Who and how many soldiers would be ready to send remains unknown.
Yesterday, French president Emmanuel Macron stated that European countries are prepared to provide Ukraine with security guarantees immediately on the day a peace agreement with Russia is signed.
"We Europeans are ready to provide guarantees to Ukraine on the day peace is signed. This is what was said in Washington. The work that was set before us has been done, and today we can say: we are ready to give political support to these agreements," Macron said.
Negotiations within the Coalition of the Willing on guarantees are still ongoing, with a new round scheduled for today, September 4.
Recently, Zelenskyy outlined three key blocks of security guarantees for Ukraine: maintaining the army, cooperation with NATO countries, and sanctions against Russia.
