Photo: US Special Presidential Envoy for Near East Affairs Steven Witkoff (Getty Images) Author: Valery Savitsky
The Russian Federation does not seek to absorb all of Ukraine, since the Russians “returned” five regions and Crimea, and got what they needed.
This was stated by US Special Representative for the Near East Stephen Witkoff, RBC-Ukraine reports, citing an interview the official gave to journalist Tucker Carlson.
The special representative noted the importance of concluding a fair agreement for Ukraine, but stressed that the United States and Western countries cannot allow this country to drag them into World War III. He added that this is not his point of view, but the policy of President Donald Trump.
Asked by a journalist what the plans of Great Britain and a number of other European countries to send peacekeeping troops to Ukraine in the context of their economic downturn indicate, Witkoff said that “it is a combination of posturing and demonstration, as well as a certain simplification.”
“I think there's this idea that everybody should be like Winston Churchill. That the Russians are going to march through Europe. I think that's absurd, by the way. We have this thing called NATO, which we didn't have in World War II. I don't think the Russians want to march through Europe,” Trump's special envoy said.
According to the politician, Russia is not trying to absorb Ukraine.
“The Russians also got what they wanted. They 'gained' those five regions. They have Crimea and they got what they wanted. Why would they want anything else?” Whitkoff said.
Putin's conditions and congressmen's resolution
In September 2022, illegal “referendums” on the entry of these territories into Russia were held on the territory of the “DPR” and “LPR” and in the temporarily occupied areas of the Zaporizhia and Kherson regions.
Based on the clearly falsified results, on October 2 of the same year, the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation recognized all four “agreements” signed by collaborators on the annexation of the territories of Luhansk, Donetsk, Zaporizhia and Kherson regions to Russia as consistent with the Constitution of the Russian Federation.
In June 2024, Russian dictator Vladimir Putin said he was ready to start peace talks if the Ukrainian Armed Forces completely withdrew their troops from the above-mentioned four regions.
President Volodymyr Zelensky rejected the proposal and called it fantasy and an ultimatum.
Recently, a bipartisan resolution was introduced in the US Congress that rejects any claims by Russia to the sovereign territories of Ukraine.
The document guarantees that no US policy or decision has the right to recognize the illegal Russian occupation of Crimea, Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhia and Kherson regions.
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