Russia’s foreign minister Sergey Lavrov has blasted British Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer over his so called peacekeeping plans.
Lavrov said it was ‘completely unacceptable’ for peacekeepers to monitor the Russia-Ukraine border under any deal and that troops from Nato nations can never patrol in Ukraine ‘under some other flag’.
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He said ‘Any appearance by armed forces under some other flag does not change anything. It is of course completely unacceptable’.
Starmer’s peace keeping plans involves sending British troops to Ukraine, a move that Russia claims would be a ‘step towards escalation’
The Mail Online reports: And his deputy Alexander Grushko added: ‘Under whatever guise they appear there, this is a step towards escalation.’
Moscow issued the chilling warning after the PM said he was prepared to deploy British troops to Ukraine to help police any ceasefire deal.
The development came after the first talks aimed at ending the war got under way between the US and Russia in Saudi Arabia.
The clash highlights the narrow path to peace in the coming months – with the US said to be looking to strike a ceasefire deal by Easter.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who negotiated alongside US National Security Advisor Michael Waltz, and US Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff in Riyadh, said the talks were a ‘first step of a long and difficult journey’.
In an effort to ease fears that a deal could be imposed on Ukraine, he stated any peace pact would have to be ‘acceptable’ to ‘everyone’ and that President Trump wanted to ‘bring an end to this conflict in a way that’s fair, enduring, sustainable’.
U.S. and Russian officials agreed a new four-point plan as they sat down in Riyadh but whether a full deal can materialize remains to be seen amid questions over Ukraine’s involvement in the negotiation process.
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky was furious at being cut out of the first meeting and cancelled his own planned visit to Saudi Arabia on Wednesday.
Rubio, U.S. National Security Adviser Mike Waltz, and Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff met with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and Putin aide Yuri Ushakov at the lavish Diriyah Palace.
It was the first round of talks as the U.S. looks to broker a peace deal to end the war that has been raging since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022.
There was no immediate agreement on when Trump and Putin will meet in person to discuss ending the war.
The breakthrough talks came after Trump spoke with Putin last week as the U.S. moves away from isolating Russia, but Ukrainian officials were not present for the sit-down in the Middle East.