Moscow has once again drawn harsh red lines on what it claims would be “unacceptable” in any potential peace agreement regarding Ukraine.
Maria Zakharova, spokesperson for the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, declared that Ukrainian membership in NATO is out of the question, blaming the Alliance for allegedly trying to “pull Ukraine into its structures” and threatening Russia — a narrative Moscow has repeated since launching its full-scale invasion.
Meanwhile, Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Grushko warned that any presence of Western troops from countries involved in the so-called Coalition of Volunteers would be “absolutely impossible” for Russia to tolerate — a statement seen as yet another attempt to intimidate Europe and undermine Western support for Ukraine.
Grushko also dismissed a suggestion by EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas, who proposed that a potential peace deal could include limits on Russia’s military spending — something the Kremlin refuses even to consider as it continues pouring billions into its war machine.
Russia’s latest statements highlight its unchanged maximalist conditions:
no NATO for Ukraine, no Western military presence, and no constraints on its own militarization — the same positions that fueled the war in the first place.
