OAN Staff James Meyers
8:16 AM – Tuesday, April 1, 2025
Russia is taking U.S. proposals for a cease-fire agreement with Ukraine “seriously” but can’t accept the deal as it stands, a senior Russian diplomat said Tuesday, suggesting peace talks between the two countries have stalled.
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“We take the models and solutions proposed by the Americans very seriously, but we can’t accept it all in its current form,” Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said, according to state media.
“As far as we can see, there is no place in them today for our main demand, namely to solve the problems related to the root causes of this conflict. It is completely absent, and that must be overcome,” Ryabkov said.
The latest comments, which were given to Russian magazine International Affairs, suggest the U.S. and Russia haven’t been able to bridge the difference that Russian President Vladimir Putin noted last month when he insisted the U.S.-backed proposal needed to be changed.
The Russian statement also comes after President Donald Trump has recently said he is “pissed off” with Putin and has suggested imposing sanctions on countries that buy Russian oil if he feels Moscow is dragging their feet over a bigger deal.
Meanwhile, Putin has said that he wants Ukraine to drop its ambitions to join NATO and for Russia to control the four Ukrainian regions it has already claimed as its own.
Both sides recently agreed to pause their attacks in the Black Sea against energy targets, with the U.S agreeing to lift certain sanctions against Russia.
Last week, Putin violated the stoppage when Russia struck a Ukrainian energy facility in Kherson, and issued a directive to “finish off” Ukrainian forces.
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