MOSCOW: Russia is still committed to achieving peace in Ukraine, the Kremlin said on Tuesday, in the first reaction to US President Donald Trump cutting his earlier deadline for Moscow to ceasefire in the conflict.
The US president on Monday said he would slash his initial 50-day deadline to “about 10 or 12 days” and that he was not interested in talking to Russian President Vladimir Putin anymore.
“We have taken note of President Trump’s statement yesterday. The SVO (special military operation) continues,” spokesman Dmitry Peskov said, using Russia’s term for its offensive.
He also noted a slowdown in attempts to restore ties with the United States after Trump’s comments.
“We would like to see more dynamics. We are interested in this. In order to move forward, we need impulses from both sides.”
Peskov said Moscow still remained “committed to the peace process to resolve the conflict around Ukraine and secure our interests.”
The latest round of talks between Moscow and Kyiv held last week yet did not yield a breakthrough, but only provided for the exchange of prisoners.
On July 14, Trump, who has sought to end the Ukraine war since beginning his second term in January and spoken to Putin at least six times this year, said he intended to impose 100 percent secondary tariffs on Moscow and its trading partners in case of a lack of progress toward a settlement.
Asked whether a potential meeting between Putin and Trump was still under consideration, Peskov said: “This issue was never seriously on the table to begin with, and it still isn’t.”
Turning to the issue of extending the New START Treaty, Peskov said Russia and the US are currently not engaged in talks on the future of the 2010 treaty on nuclear arms reduction.
The pact expires in February 2026, with Trump saying he wants to maintain the treaty’s limits.
“What’s preventing them, frankly, is the state of bilateral relations, which have deteriorated under the (former) Biden administration,” he said.
As for the process of normalising Russia-US relations, according to the spokesman’s assessment, it has been moving “neither steadily nor decisively.”
Moscow is interested in normalising relations with Washington and would like to see more progress, but for things to move forward, both sides need to take initiative, Peskov stressed.
