Russia receives truce proposal with caution: ‘Any agreement must be on our terms, not American’

Russian authorities are avoiding making an open statement on the U.S.-Ukraine ceasefire proposal to buy time for negotiations. Meanwhile, Russian ultranationalists are seething, disappointed with Donald Trump’s latest feint. “You’re getting a little ahead of yourselves,” Putin’s spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, told reporters when asked what the Kremlin thinks of the proposal, urging them to wait for Washington to provide more details. The Foreign Ministry, for its part, has stated that Russia’s position “will be adopted in Russia.” However, the fear among war propagandists and politicians is that the truce will only strengthen Ukraine. Some dared to speak out even before the Kremlin issued an official response: “Any agreement [must be] on our terms, not American,” warned Konstantin Kosachev, chair of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Federation Council, the Russian Senate, in a Telegram post.

Putin’s spokesman urged them to wait. “Both [Secretary of State Marco] Rubio and [National Security Adviser Mike] Waltz said that they would pass on detailed information to us through various channels about the essence of the conversation that took place in Jeddah. First, we must receive this information,” Peskov said. Hours later, Rubio announced that Washington and Moscow will meet Wednesday to discuss the truce proposal.

Meanwhile, on the battlefield, the situation is fluid. Although the Russian offensive in eastern Ukraine has stalled in recent months, the recapture of its own territory in the Kursk region, partially occupied by Ukrainian forces since last August, is progressing in leaps and bounds. Russian troops raised their flags over Sudzha, the main municipality in the region, on Wednesday. “Victory will be ours,” Kosachev added.

The two powers maintain contacts in various spheres. This Wednesday, Russian Foreign Intelligence Service Director Sergey Naryshkin and John Ratcliffe, his CIA counterpart, spoke by phone. According to the Russian intelligence service, the objective was “to help ensure international stability and security, as well as reduce the confrontation in relations between Moscow and Washington.”

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova emphasized that the final decision on a ceasefire will be made by Moscow. “Russia’s position will not be formed abroad through any agreements or efforts of certain parties. Russia’s position is shaped within Russia,” she stated. The veteran diplomat stressed once again in a separate interview that Moscow will only accept measures that satisfy its interests. For the Kremlin, any proposal regarding Ukraine “must focus on eradicating the root causes of the conflict,” and this includes the disarmament of Kyiv.

Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov did not comment on the truce agreed Tuesday between Ukraine and the United States in Saudi Arabia, but he asserted in an interview with American bloggers that Donald Trump will not provide security guarantees to Kyiv while the current Ukrainian president remains in office. “Trump does not want to provide American security guarantees to a Ukraine led by [Volodymyr] Zelenskiy. He has his own view of the situation, which he regularly and openly expresses,” Lavrov said. He also criticized the United Kingdom and the European Union for increasing their military support for Ukraine, but did not address the U.S. promise to rearm Kyiv in exchange for accepting the temporary truce.

The Russian Foreign Minister also categorically rejected the deployment of European peacekeepers in Ukraine. “If NATO expansion is recognized, at least by Donald Trump, as one of the root causes [of the conflict] then the presence of troops from NATO countries under any flag, in any capacity, on Ukrainian soil is the same threat,” Lavrov said.

Moscow has avoided commenting on the truce proposal, despite insisting in recent months that it does not want any temporary solution. Still, some politicians have openly criticized the idea of a ceasefire. “It’s unacceptable; it will only allow Ukraine to regroup and rearm,” said General Viktor Soboliov, a member of the State Duma, the lower house of the Russian parliament, hours after the agreement was announced.

Kosachev, in turn, pointed to Russian progress on the front lines to emphasize that any ceasefire will be on the terms dictated by Putin. “This is not boasting, but understanding that real agreements are still being written there, at the front. Which they should understand in Washington, too,” Kosachev wrote on his Telegram channel.

Fyodor Lukyanov, the head of the Council on Foreign and Defense Policy, an organization that advises the Kremlin, noted that the truce “contradicts Moscow’s repeated position that there will be no ceasefire until the foundations for a lasting peace are agreed upon [...] In other words, we will fight until a comprehensive plan is developed.”

Meanwhile, Russian ultranationalists are lamenting Trump’s alleged concessions to Ukraine, including rearmament and intelligence advice. “No MAGA-projects, no JFK documents, no Epstein list. Continue to “fight evil Russians” narrative. Give still more money to fraud midget Zelensky. Great result of American Conservative Revolution...” wrote Alexander Dugin, one of the ideological beacons of Russian ultranationalism and a Trump defender until now, on X.

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