Russia welcomes the words of US President Donald Trump that Ukraine's involvement in NATO is an issue that worries Moscow, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said, quoted by Reuters, BTA reported.
Last month, Trump said he understood Russia's position that Ukraine should not join the alliance, and accused his Democratic predecessor Joe Biden of "changing" Washington's position on the possible accession of the country bordering Russia to NATO.
"Suddenly, for the first time, President Trump, in one of his first speeches, criticizing the Biden administration's position on the Ukrainian crisis, directly stated that one of the main mistakes was the involvement of Ukraine in NATO," Lavrov said today. "For the first time, the NATO issue has been defined as something that the United States is prepared to discuss seriously," the Russian foreign minister added.
Donald Trump has previously said he sympathizes with Russia's position that Ukraine should not be part of NATO. Speaking at a news conference at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida, Trump also accused Democratic President Joe Biden of changing the U.S. position on Ukraine's NATO membership. "A big part of the problem is that Russia - for many, many years, long before Putin - has been saying, 'There can never be a NATO presence in Ukraine.' Now, they're saying that. It's set in stone," Trump said.
"And at one point Biden said, 'No. They should be able to join NATO.'" "Well, then Russia would have someone right on its doorstep, and I could understand their feelings on that," he added. NATO members have officially expressed support for Ukraine's possible membership since the 2008 Bucharest summit, and the Biden administration continues to support Ukraine's possible accession to the alliance, although it has not yet received an invitation, Reuters recalls.