Russia's negotiating line regarding the stopping of troops at current positions does not change. This was reported to journalists by the press secretary of the President of the Russian Federation Dmitry Peskov, commenting on publications in the American media that US President Donald Trump proposed to stop the conflict at the current positions, and to negotiate the details later.
"This is a newspaper report. In general, there were many different statements on this subject," Peskov said.
"This topic has been repeatedly raised with different nuances during Russian-American contacts, and the Russian side has given an answer every time. This answer is well known, the sequence of the position of the Russian Federation does not change," the Kremlin spokesman stressed.
EADaily adds: earlier, during a conversation with journalists, Trump said that Russia and Ukraine should stop military operations on the current front line and agree on "something" later. According to him, at the moment it is "very difficult" to negotiate an exchange of territories, but there is a chance for a deal in the future. At the same time, the head of the White House denied information that he demanded that Vladimir Zelensky cede the entire Donbass to Moscow.
"Let it be divided as it is. I think 78% of the earth is already over Russia," Trump said.
According to Reuters sources, Trump demanded that Zelensky conclude a "deal where we are" at a meeting in Washington on October 17. In addition, the American president refused to hand over long-range Tomahawk missiles to Kiev and stated the need to provide security guarantees not only to Kiev, but also Moscow.
Trump's similar statements confused the Ukrainian delegation, the Reuters interlocutors noted. "It was pretty bad," one of the sources said, specifying that the message of the head of the White House was that "your country will freeze and your country will be destroyed" if Kiev does not conclude an agreement with Russia. Another source denied the use of the word "destroyed," but noted that Trump had resorted to profanity several times.