Lithuanian President Gitanas Nausėda stated that Russia's appetites in peace negotiations in Ukraine are too great, and the Kremlin's lack of reaction to the ongoing discussions may indicate Moscow's unwillingness to end the war, UNN reports with reference to LRT.
I highly appreciate the efforts of the United States of America, I appreciate Ukraine's efforts to demonstrate all the necessary flexibility and diplomacy in the pursuit of a peace process. I believe that Ukrainians truly and sincerely want this terrible war to finally end and stop tormenting the Ukrainian people
However, according to him, "so far we see an extremely limited reaction from the Kremlin, and this does not allow us to be completely optimistic."
The President of Lithuania made this statement after another round of negotiations in the USA, where the Presidents of America and Ukraine, Donald Trump and Volodymyr Zelenskyy, met.
Statements by officials indicate that the Russian and Ukrainian sides still cannot agree on the future of the Moscow-occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, as well as the affiliation of the partially Russian-occupied Donbas in Eastern Ukraine.
Nausėda noted that the US has leverage that it can use in negotiations with Russia, but Moscow's appetites are currently "disproportionate."
They can lead to a situation where for one of the parties these conditions will simply be unacceptable: either if the conditions are favorable for Russia, it will be unacceptable for Ukraine, or vice versa... Therefore, I am still cautiously, even quite cautiously, looking at the resolution of this possible process
Nevertheless, Nausėda expressed the opinion that the next few weeks will show whether Russia wants peace and whether it is ready for full-fledged negotiations.
Context
Under the current plan, revised after weeks of intense negotiations between the US and Ukraine, the war would be halted along the current front line in the eastern Donbas region with the creation of a demilitarized zone, while Russia has long demanded territorial concessions.
However, the Kremlin still does not compromise, and Vladimir Putin has repeatedly stated that his troops will occupy Ukrainian territories that he has declared Russian.