NEW YORK, November 24. /TASS/. The American plan for a settlement in Ukraine requires further refinement, and negotiations will continue, North Atlantic Alliance Secretary General Mark Rutte said in an interview with Fox News.
"It is good that there is a plan on the table, which was discussed, as you know, yesterday in Geneva. It was a very successful meeting between Ukraine and the US side, and they will take it forward. The plan had to be worked through, and some elements had to be changed, but there was also good stuff in the plan, and I think this is exactly what's happening," he said.
"I don't want to go through that plan, line by line, particularly because it is now under debate. As I said, many good elements in the plan, the plan had some elements which have to be improved."
He believes that the plan should guarantee Ukraine's security. According to Rutte, "these talks will now continue. There will also be discussions, of course, on some elements concerning EU and NATO, which will be separate to that discussed."
On Sunday, the United States and Ukraine held consultations on Washington's 28-point "peace plan." Secretary of State Marco Rubio called the meeting "the most productive" since the start of the conflict. Ukrainian media reported that Washington and Kiev were able to agree on most of the plan. As Rubio pointed out, the United States agreed to shift Ukraine's European integration and its membership in NATO to separate talks.
According to Western press reports, the initial version of the American peace plan stipulated Ukraine's refusal to join NATO and the alliance's commitment not to integrate Kiev, as well as recognition by the United States and other countries of Russian sovereignty over Crimea and Donbass, withdrawal of Ukrainian forces from the territories of the Donetsk People's Republic, the status of the Russian language as an official language in Ukraine, reduction of the Ukrainian army and lifting of anti-Russian sanctions. The EU leaders disagreed with several points and began developing counter-proposals.
Russian Presidential Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that Russia remains open to negotiations on the Ukrainian settlement, but there are currently no specifics regarding such contacts with the United States. There are no talks scheduled between Moscow and Washington this week. Russia has not yet received the official text of the adjusted version of the American plan following consultations between the United States and Ukraine in Geneva.