Russian President Vladimir Putin’s priorities ahead of meeting with President-elect Donald Trump include ensuring Ukraine never joins NATO, according to a new report.
Both leaders have indicated that they are ready to meet and discuss ending the nearly three-year-long war in Ukraine. This week, Trump said his team is setting it up, preferably after Inauguration Day.
“We have to get that war over,” Trump told Republican governors at Mar-a-Lago Thursday. “That’s a bloody mess.”
But Moscow’s main goal is security agreements that would ensure Ukraine never joins NATO, and getting the military alliance to pull back some of its deployments in the region, a former senior Kremlin official and another person who has spoken with Putin told the Financial Times.
“[Putin] wants to change the rules of the international order so there are no threats to Russia,” the former Kremlin official told the outlet. “He is very worried about how the world will look after the war.”
The official claimed Trump wants to roll back NATO anyway.
“The world is changing, anything can happen,” the official added.
On the campaign trail, Trump, who has questioned the value of NATO, declared that if he was re-elected he’d “encourage” Russia to “do whatever the hell they want” to any member that does not pay enough for defense.
Allies, however, have remained hopeful that Trump will continue supporting Ukraine and NATO.
When previously asked about support for Ukraine joining NATO, a spokeswoman for Trump reiterated his belief that European countries must meet their defense spending obligations. A peaceful resolution to the war remains a top priority for him, she added.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has said that NATO membership is necessary for Ukraine’s survival and could end the “hot stage” of the war. Some western leaders and NATO officials fear a defeat for Ukraine would embolden Putin and his allies in China, Iran and North Korea.
The 32 member bloc in July declared Ukraine on an “irreversible” path to membership.
With Post wires
