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US President Donald Trump considers Ukraine’s potential NATO membership a closed issue.
Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said this in an interview with the “Bolshaya Igra” program broadcast on Channel One, according to the Operative Information Center-OMM.
According to Lavrov, Trump’s position forms the basis of current contacts between Moscow and Washington on Ukraine.
The Russian foreign minister said the US administration’s approach was also taken into account during recent talks between Russian President Vladimir Putin and US President’s special representatives Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner.
Lavrov said Trump had made it clear after returning to the White House that no attempt should be made to involve Ukraine in NATO.
According to him, the US president’s position is that the issue of Ukraine’s NATO membership should be considered “closed.”
Lavrov identified recognition of “the realities on the ground” as another key element of the US administration’s position. He said Donald Trump and his team had also based their approach on this principle during the Alaska stage of Russia-US negotiations.
The Russian foreign minister said that by “the realities on the ground,” he meant the results of referendums held in Crimea, Donetsk and Luhansk, as well as in the Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions.
According to Lavrov, Russia views positively the fact that the US side takes these realities into account in contacts with Moscow, particularly with Vladimir Putin. He said this creates a basis for continuing dialogue on Ukraine.
At the same time, Lavrov did not disclose the content of the proposals discussed by Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner in Moscow.
He said various scenarios had been put forward regarding the talks and that speculation was continuing on the subject.
Lavrov said Russian presidential aide Yuri Ushakov had already provided information about the results of the talks. The minister stressed that Moscow did not intend to disclose the content of its meetings with US representatives.
NATO is a political and military alliance whose membership has long been a central issue in discussions over Ukraine’s security arrangements. Kyiv has repeatedly expressed its aspiration to join the alliance, while the question remains closely linked to broader negotiations over the conflict.
