Russia welcomes Trump’s tone on Ukraine conflict

Russia’s foreign minister said Tuesday he welcomed signals coming from US President-elect Donald Trump over the Ukraine conflict, less than a week before the Republican takes office.

Trump has pledged to bring a swift end to the nearly three-year conflict, raised scepticism over Washington’s military support for Kyiv and sympathised with Moscow’s concerns over the NATO military alliance.

Speaking at a press conference in Moscow, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said “the very fact that people are starting to talk more about the realities on the ground. It probably deserves being welcomed.”

Russia holds almost one-fifth of Ukraine’s internationally recognised territory and has claimed to have annexed five of its regions — Crimea in 2014, and the Donetsk, Kherson, Lugansk and Zaporizhzhia regions in 2022.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has demanded Ukraine withdraw from all of them — including significant territory Kyiv’s forces still control — as a precondition to peace talks.

Despite backing Trump’s public stance, Lavrov said Russia had yet to see any specific proposals on how he intends to bring the two sides to the negotiating table.

“We will wait for concrete initiatives,” Lavrov said.

“Once he becomes president, and formulates a definitive position on Ukrainian affairs, of course we will study it,” he added.

The Kremlin had not received any proposals from Trump’s team for a meeting with Putin, despite Trump saying one was being arranged, Lavrov also said.