Russian President Vladimir Putin said reaching consensus on security guarantees for Ukraine was possible, even as he reiterated Moscow would never accept Kyiv’s accession into Nato.
Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelenskiy has said security guarantees for his country, including a “Nato-like” form of support that allies could provide, have to be a part of any settlement to Russia’s invasion, now in its fourth year. Ukraine and its partners have intensified work on the details of what they can provide to ensure that any agreement reached with Putin can hold.
Russia has insisted it should be part of any post-war security architecture, a proposal Kyiv rejects.
“There are options for ensuring Ukraine’s security if the conflict ends,” Putin said on Tuesday in Beijing during a meeting with Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico. “It seems to me that there is an opportunity to find a consensus here,” adding that the topic came up in discussions with US President Donald Trump when the two leaders met in Alaska.
Putin said Russia didn’t object to Ukraine’s potential membership in the European Union, but joining the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation would be “unacceptable for us,” even in the long term.
Nato Secretary General Mark Rutte said a strong Ukrainian military backed by external assurances would be necessary to protect the country.
“For peace to last, Ukraine needs not only its own strong armed forces,” but also security guarantees from Kyiv’s partners, Rutte told reporters on Tuesday in Luxembourg. “The US, Europe and others are defining them now. As you know we are sitting together in many formats.”
In his meeting with Fico, Putin called the idea that Moscow posed a threat to Europe “complete nonsense”.
“Hysteria is constantly being whipped up that Russia is supposedly planning to attack Europe,” he said. “This is a provocation or complete incompetence.”
Rutte had earlier suggested that Russia may be in a position to consider such an attack on the alliance within five years, echoing the assessments of German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and several European intelligence agencies. Those warnings have helped spur Nato — under pressure from Trump — to push members to raise defence spending to the highest levels in decades.
The Russian leader hailed recent talks with Washington, saying the US administration was listening to Moscow.
“We see that a mutual understanding is emerging,” he said. “We are very happy about this and hope that this constructive dialogue will continue.”
Trump came to office saying he would quickly bring about an end to the fighting. As his efforts toward a ceasefire have sputtered, he has at times threatened to widen sanctions against Russia. On Monday, US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told Fox News that officials would be looking at potential penalties this week, and that “all options are on the table.”
Putin also told Fico that Russia had discussed with US counterparts cooperating with the Americans and Ukrainians at Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, which Moscow’s forces seized early in the war, “if favourable circumstances arise.”
He suggested that in Slovakia, Russia could cooperate with the US firm Westinghouse on a nuclear-power project.
Slovakia, a landlocked country bordering Ukraine, holds a long-term gas contract with Russia’s Gazprom that runs through to 2034. While transit through Ukraine has ceased, the country continues to receive Russian gas via the TurkStream pipeline through Hungary.
