Russia welcomes US President Donald Trump’s remarks over Ukraine being drawn towards NATO which raises concern to Moscow.
On January 5, Trump blamed outgoing President Joe Biden for changing the US position on NATO membership for Ukraine and acknowledged Russia’s insecurity regarding the possibility of Ukraine, its foremost neighbor, becoming a member of NATO—Russia’s adversary.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov appreciated Trump’s acknowledgement that drawing Ukraine towards NATO was a mistake.
Lavrov said, “Suddenly, for the first time, President Trump, in one of his first speeches, criticizing the position of the administration of Biden on the Ukrainian crisis, bluntly said that one of the main mistakes was drawing Ukraine into NATO” He added, “For the first time the problem of NATO was identified as something that the United States is ready to discuss seriously.”
In 2008, NATO paved the way for Ukraine’s membership during a summit, without specifying a date for Kyiv to join the alliance.
Russia had for a long time expressed its apprehension of the potential for collaboration of Ukraine and NATO. It had maintained that the primary reason for Putin to send troops into Ukraine in Feb. 2022 was the threat to its security.
