MOSCOW: A top Russian diplomat said on Wednesday that the impetus to find a peace deal to end the fighting in Ukraine which emerged after a summit between President Vladimir Putin and President Donald Trump in August had proven to be largely exhausted.
Trump and Putin met at a Cold War-era air force base in Anchorage, Alaska, on August 15 in an attempt to end the deadliest land war in Europe since World War Two.
Trump, who had previously said Kyiv should give up land to make peace with Moscow, has repeatedly said that he is disappointed with Putin for not ending the war, and has cast Russia as a “paper tiger.”
Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov, who oversees relations with the US and arms control, accused European powers which support Ukraine of successfully torpedoing peace efforts.
“Unfortunately, we have to admit that Anchorage’s powerful momentum in favor of agreements has been largely exhausted by the efforts of opponents and supporters of the war,” Ryabkov was quoted as saying by Russian news agencies.
“This is the result of destructive activities, primarily by the Europeans,” he said.
Putin sent tens of thousands of troops into Ukraine in February 2022, triggering the biggest confrontation between Russia and the West since the Cold War.
Western European leaders and Ukraine cast the war as an imperial-style land grab and have repeatedly vowed to defeat Russian forces. Putin blames the West for ignoring Moscow’s security concerns after the 1991 fall of the Soviet Union about the enlargement of the NATO military alliance.
Ryabkov also said that the potential appearance of US Tomahawk missiles in Ukraine would mean a “qualitative” change in the situation, Interfax quoted him as saying.
Trump said earlier this week he would want to know what Ukraine planned to do with Tomahawks before agreeing to provide them because he did not want to escalate the war.
Russian diplomat: Impetus for peace in Ukraine after Putin-Trump summit has been exhausted
https://arab.news/mqf4e
Russian diplomat: Impetus for peace in Ukraine after Putin-Trump summit has been exhausted
- Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov accuses European powers of successfully torpedoing peace efforts
- ‘This is the result of destructive activities, primarily by the Europeans’
US widens travel ban to more than 30 countries, Noem says
- Trump signed proclamation in June banning citizens of 12 countries from entering US, restricting those from seven
- Since returning to office in January, Trump has aggressively prioritized immigration enforcement, deportations
The US plans to expand the number of countries covered by its travel ban to more than 30, US Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said on Thursday.
Noem, in an interview on Fox News’ “The Ingraham Angle,” was asked to confirm whether the administration of President Donald Trump would be increasing the number of countries on the travel ban list to 32.
“I won’t be specific on the number, but it’s over 30, and the president is continuing to evaluate countries,” she said.
Trump signed a proclamation in June banning the citizens of 12 countries from entering the United States and restricting those from seven others, saying it was needed to protect against “foreign terrorists” and other security threats. The bans apply to both immigrants and non-immigrants, such as tourists, students and business travelers.
Noem did not specify which countries would be added to the list.
“If they don’t have a stable government there, if they don’t have a country that can sustain itself and tell us who those individuals are and help us vet them, why should we allow people from that country to come here to the United States?” Noem said.
Reuters previously reported that the Trump administration was considering banning citizens of 36 additional countries from entering the United States, according to an internal State Department cable.
An expansion of the list would mark a further escalation of migration measures the administration has taken since the shooting of two National Guard members in Washington, D.C., last week.
Investigators say the shooting was carried out by an Afghan national who entered the US in 2021 through a resettlement program under which Trump administration officials have argued there was insufficient vetting.
Days after the shooting, Trump vowed to “permanently pause” migration from all “Third World Countries,” although he did not identify any by name or define “third-world countries.”
Prior to that, officials from the Department of Homeland Security said Trump had ordered a widespread review of asylum cases approved under the administration of his predecessor, Democratic President Joe Biden and Green Cards issued to citizens of 19 countries.
Since returning to office in January, Trump has aggressively prioritized immigration enforcement, sending federal agents to major US cities and turning away asylum seekers at the US-Mexico border. His administration has frequently highlighted the deportation push, but until now it has put less emphasis on efforts to reshape legal immigration.
