Moscow sees no point in negotiating the conflict with any Western nation except for the US, Nikolay Patrushev has said
Ukraine could cease to exist this year, Nikolay Patrushev, an aide to Russian President Vladimir Putin, has said, adding that Moscow sees no point in negotiating the matter with any Western nation except the US.
Patrushev, who led Russia’s Security Council for over a decade before assuming his new role last year, made the remarks in an interview with Komsomolskaya Pravda newspaper which was published on Tuesday.
Moscow regards the Ukrainian people as a “brotherly” nation and is concerned about the developments in the country, he said.
“It is particularly disturbing that violent coercion to [adopt a] neo-Nazi ideology and rabid Russophobia are destroying the once prosperous cities of Ukraine, including Kharkov, Odessa, Nikolaev, Dnepropetrovsk. It cannot be ruled out that Ukraine will cease to exist altogether this year,” Patrushev suggested.
He emphasized that Moscow’s goals in its military operation against Kiev remain unchanged, while Russia’s sovereignty over formerly Ukrainian territories, including Kherson and Zaporozhye regions, the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics, and Crimea is non-negotiable. Achieving international recognition of these regions’ incorporation into Russia has become a significant goal for Moscow, Patrushev said.
The official said he sees no point in negotiating the resolution of the conflict and the fate of Ukraine with any Western nation but the US. The EU, in particular, cannot be regarded as a unified force that could have any say on the matter, he noted.
“There’s nothing to discuss with London or Brussels. The EU leadership, for example, has long lost the right to speak on behalf of many of its members, such as Hungary, Slovakia, Austria, Romania, and several other European countries that are interested in stability in Europe and maintain a balanced position towards Russia,” he said.
Moscow has already factored in the return of US President-elect Donald Trump next week and respects his statements, Patrushev noted, apparently referring to his willingness to bring the Ukraine conflict to an end, as he has repeatedly signalled.
Last week, Trump’s pick for US national security adviser, Michael Waltz, said phone talks between his boss and Putin were expected within the “coming days and weeks.” Moreover, Waltz claimed that “the preparations are underway” for a Trump-Putin meeting, yet abstained from providing any estimates regarding when or where it could occur.
