On Friday, a top ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin stated that Moscow would not end its military campaign in Ukraine even if Kyiv formally renounced its NATO membership ambitions.
Former President Dmitry Medvedev, now the deputy chairman of Russia’s Security Council, also stated in a French television interview that Russia was willing to hold talks with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy if certain conditions were met.
Moscow made it clear even before the February invasion that Ukrainian membership in NATO was unacceptable to it.
“Withdrawing from the North Atlantic alliance is now critical, but it is already insufficient to establish peace,” Medvedev said on LCI television, according to Russian news agencies.
Russia, he said, would keep the campaign going until its objectives were met. Putin has stated his intention to “denazify” Ukraine. According to Kyiv and the West, this is a bogus pretext for a conquest war.
Following the invasion, Russia and Ukraine held several rounds of talks, but no progress was made, and there are few prospects for a resumption.
He also stated that US weapons already supplied to Ukraine, such as HIMARS multiple-rocket launchers, do not yet pose a significant threat.
But that could change if US-supplied weapons could hit targets at greater distances, he said.
“It means one thing when this type of missile flies 70 kilometres,” he explained. “But when it’s 300-400 km, that’s another thing; now that’s a direct threat to Russian Federation territory.”
