NEW YORK, August 28. /TASS/. US businessman Vivek Ramaswamy, a 2024 Republican presidential candidate, signalled his readiness for concessions to Russia on the sanctions and new regions in exchange for "exiting its military alliance with China."

Ramaswamy said in an opinion piece for The American Conservative that he would "accept Russian control of" the new regions and "pledge to block Ukraine’s candidacy for NATO in exchange for Russia exiting its military alliance with China." Also, he said, he would "end sanctions and bring Russia back into the world market" as a strategic check on China’s "designs" in East Asia.

He did not say if "accepting Russian control" would mean US recognition of the new Russian regions.

From September 23 to September 27, 2022, the Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) and the Lugansk People’s Republic (LPR) as well as the Kherson Region and the Zaporozhye Region held a referendum where the majority of voters opted to join Russia.

On September 30, 2022, Russian President Vladimir Putin and the heads of the four new Russian regions signed treaties on their accession to Russia. On October 4, the Russian leader signed laws ratifying the treaties on the accession of the DPR and the LPR, the Zaporozhye and Kherson Regions to Russia.