MOSCOW, February 14. /TASS/. Moscow perceives the recent threats made by US Vice President JD Vance regarding American troop deployment on Ukrainian soil and anti-Russian sanctions as new components of the US position, which should be clarified during upcoming bilateral discussions, Russian Presidential Spokesman Dmitry Peskov stated on Friday.
"If discussing his US media interviews, these are new components of [Washington's] position," Peskov mentioned during a daily news briefing. "We have not heard such expressions before, they have not been stated previously."
"It’s unquestionable that during the discussions we have mentioned, we expect to be provided with additional clarifications," he added, referring to Vance’s interview with Wall Street Journal (WSJ) earlier in the week.
In the interview with WSJ, Vance mentioned that the United States could impose further sanctions on Russia and even send US military personnel to Ukraine.
According to him, the possibility of deploying US military personnel to Ukraine was still "on the table" for Washington, should Moscow decline to negotiate "in good faith." Furthermore, the US could use "economic tools of leverage," and "of course military tools of leverage" against Russia, Vance warned.
Vance believes it is premature to say exactly what security assurances the United States and the West could provide to Ukraine. Those specifics, he continued, would be clarified in possible peace talks. "There are various possible approaches, but we do care about Ukraine maintaining its sovereign independence," the US vice president stated.
On February 12, US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth dismissed the idea of returning to Ukraine’s pre-2014 borders as "an unrealistic objective" as he addressed another meeting of the Ramstein Group in Brussels. Additionally, he effectively ruled out Ukraine's NATO membership and warned Europe that, as the Trump administration sees it, it must ensure its own security.
In a telephone conversation on February 12, Putin and Trump discussed, among other things, the prospects for resolving the situation in Ukraine. According to the Kremlin, the US president expressed support for an early ceasefire and a peaceful resolution. Putin, for his part, emphasized the need to address the root causes of the conflict and agreed with Trump that a lasting settlement could be achieved through peace talks, the Russian presidential press service highlighted.