Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov suggested Moscow could reject the White House’s latest Ukraine peace deal framework if it doesn’t uphold the "spirit and letter" of the understandings reached at the August Alaska summit between President Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin.
Lavrov said at a news conference Tuesday that Russia is awaiting the updated version of the Trump administration’s latest peace plan aimed at ending the nearly four-year war.
He warned that if the terms of the "key understandings" are "extinguished" then the situation would become "fundamentally different."
Russia has maintained its maximalist demands in negotiations, insisting Ukraine be barred from joining NATO and required to give up the rest of the Donbas as part of any peace deal.
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John Hardie, the deputy director of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies' Russia Program, told Fox News Digital Moscow's intransigence over the past 10 months has been the main obstacle to Trump’s diplomatic efforts.
"The United States has really shot itself in the foot by kind of flip-flopping between strategies. One month you're trying to pressure the Russians and saying they're the obstacle in peace. The next minute you're trying to, you know, force their terms on Kyiv," said Hardie.
"What we really need is sustained military support for Ukraine and economic pressure on Russia, and Putin has to realize that neither the Ukrainian military nor Western, especially U.S., resolve, are going to falter."
Former CIA station chief Dan Hoffman told "The Brian Kilmeade Show" Tuesday he remains skeptical about an end to the war, arguing the United States lacks the leverage to compel Moscow to halt its invasion.
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"Vladimir Putin, his strategic objective has always been to overthrow the democratically elected government of Ukraine. He’ll engage in negotiations, but he does it to ensure that he’s asserting the primacy of Russia in his self-designated sphere of influence," said Hoffman. "I just don’t see any evidence that Russia is going to pause in their relentless attacks on Ukraine."
Ukraine agreed Tuesday to a peace deal to end the war with Russia, but some details still need to be finalized, a U.S. official told Fox News.
U.S. Army Secretary Dan Driscoll met with Russian officials in Abu Dhabi Monday and Tuesday to discuss the framework for a Ukraine peace deal. The U.S. official said a Ukrainian delegation was also in Abu Dhabi and in contact with Driscoll and his team.
Fox News' Jennifer Griffin contributed to this report
