Kremlin says joining the EU is Ukraine’s sovereign right
MOSCOW—The Kremlin said on Tuesday that it was Ukraine’s sovereign right to decide whether it wanted to join the European Union and that Moscow did not intend to dictate to Kyiv how it should approach the question.
Asked if Ukraine could one day join the European Union, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said: “This is the sovereign right of any country.”
“We are talking about integration and economic integration processes. And here, of course, no one can dictate anything to any country, and we are not going to do that,” Peskov said.
Peskov added, though, that Russia’s position was different when it came to Ukraine joining military alliances.
“There is a completely different position, of course, on security-related issues related to defense or military alliances,” Peskov said.
The Kremlin made the comment as US and Russian officials met on Tuesday in Riyadh for the most significant talks to date between the two former Cold War foes on ending Moscow’s war in Ukraine.
Conflict, relations
The two sides were expected to discuss ways to end the conflict in Ukraine and restore American-Russian relations.
The conversation could pave the way for a summit between US President Donald Trump and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin.
Ukraine, which is not attending the talks, says no peace deal can be made on its behalf in Riyadh.
Russia said foreign minister Sergei Lavrov would meet top US officials, including secretary of state Marco Rubio, in talks that would focus on ending the Ukraine war and restoring “the whole complex” of Russia-US ties.
The head of Russia’s sovereign wealth fund on Tuesday described Trump as a problem solver ahead of the discussions in Saudi Arabia.
“We really see that President Trump and his team is a team of problem solvers, people who have already addressed a number of big challenges very swiftly, very efficiently and very successfully,” Kirill Dmitriev told reporters in Riyadh.
US loses
Dmitriev, a US-educated former Goldman Sachs banker, played a role in early contacts between Moscow and Washington during Trump’s first term as president from 2016-2020.
Yuri Ushakov, Putin’s foreign policy adviser, said on Monday that Dmitriev might join the delegation to discuss any economic questions that might arise.
“It’s very important to understand that US businesses lost around $300 billion from leaving Russia. So there is huge economic toll on many countries from you know what’s happening right now, and we believe as a way forward is through solutions,” Dmitriev said.
The talks come after European leaders gathered in Paris on Monday for an emergency summit to agree on a unified strategy. They were blindsided by Trump’s push for immediate talks on Ukraine after a phone call with Putin last week.
The European leaders said they would invest more in defense and take the lead in providing security guarantees for Ukraine.
