Russia shamelessly demanded that the US lift its sanctions and that Kyiv be “demilitarized” and recognize that 20% of Ukraine belongs to the Vladimir Putin-led nation as it refused President Trump’s push for peace just days after his envoy returned to Moscow for yet another round of talks.
Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov insisted Monday that Russia will accept nothing less than total victory over Ukraine after Trump’s Special Envoy Steve Witkoff made no progress in ending the country’s three-year war when he met with Putin Friday.
When asked by Brazilian newspaper O Globo “what terms would Russia agree to come to the negotiation table with Ukraine,” Lavrov rattled off a list of Ukrainian red-line items — and mentioned no willingness to make even the smallest concessions, such as the US-proposed return of a small, occupied portion of Kharkiv.
Lavrov said “the international recognition of Crimea, Sevastopol, (Donetsk), (Luhansk), Kherson and Zapor(i)zh(ia) regions as part of Russia” is an “imperative,” insisting that not just the world — but also Kyiv itself — recognize 20% of Ukraine as sovereign Russian territory.
“All the commitments (Kyiv) assumes must be legally binding, contain enforcement mechanisms and be permanent,” he said.
That alone is a nonstarter. While Kyiv has shown a willingness to freeze the fighting lines where they are and acknowledge that Russia technically controls the occupied regions, its constitution outlaws the recognition of its land as belonging to any other nation.
Since Witkoff began speaking with Russia roughly two months ago, Moscow has only upped its demands. For example, its desire to annex Ukraine’s Kherson and Zaporizhia oblasts was never part of Putin’s original goals of the war when his forces launched the full-scale invasion in 2021.
“The Kremlin is now explicitly demanding all of Kherson and Zaporizhia, which was not part of the 2021 demands,” said George Barros of the Institute for the Study of War. “Bottom line, the Kremlin is rejecting Trump’s proposals and articulating goals that require the war to go on or for Ukraine to surrender things for no reason.
“The only thing it is willing to negotiate are the terms of US capitulation and Ukrainian surrender.”
To that end, Lavrov also called for the West — including the US — to begin “lifting sanctions, withdrawing lawsuits and cancelling arrest warrants, as well as returning Russian assets subjected to the so-called freeze in the West.”
The foreign minister also said Russia would not begin talks with Ukraine until Kyiv makes yet another change to its constitution: disavowing its citizens’ wishes to one day join NATO.
While the measure has no achieve-by deadline, then-Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko signed a constitutional amendment in 2019 committing the country to eventually becoming a member of NATO and the European Union.
“Russia proceeds from the premise (of) Kiev’s non-accession to NATO,” Lavrov said.
“… We will also insist on obtaining solid security guarantees for the Russian Federation in order to shield it from any threats emanating from hostile activities by NATO, the European Union and some of their member states along our western border.
But Moscow has been critical of any security guarantees for Kyiv to ensure Russia doesn’t further invade Ukraine — which for now aren’t much more than a vague promise of the presence of European troops along the would-be frozen frontlines.
Lavrov also doubled down on calls to restrict the size of the Ukrainian military — which his country has been unable to defeat in 38 months of war — saying Kyiv must “demilitarize.”
That provision, while floated by Russia in recent weeks, was not part of the Trump peace plan proposed to Russia and Ukraine last week.
Though Trump has grown increasingly frustrated with Russia for its continued bombardment of Ukraine as he tries to reach a peace deal, the president has so far taken no punitive steps to attempt to force Moscow to back down from its untenable demands.
The rejection of Trump’s peace proposal comes after the Kremlin dubbed Putin’s Friday meeting with Witkoff “quite useful.”
