Russia says security guarantees requested by Ukraine ‘dangerous’ for Europe

ISTANBUL

Russia on Thursday said that the security guarantees requested by Kyiv as part of ongoing diplomatic efforts to end the Ukraine war are “dangerous” for the European continent.

In remarks during a briefing on the sidelines of the 10th Eastern Economic Forum in the city of Vladivostok in Russia's Far East, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova reaffirmed Moscow's position on the requests by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy as "unacceptable," claiming it is aimed at preserving the war-torn country as a "springboard" for "provocations."

"They are not guarantees of Ukraine's security; they are guarantees of danger to the European continent," Zakharova said.

About the deployment of foreign troops in Ukraine as a security guarantee, she reiterated Moscow's rejection to discuss the matter and argued it "undermines all security, in any form or format."

She said that Russia also took note of European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen's remarks over the weekend on Europe drawing up "pretty precise plans" for the deployment of foreign troops as part of security guarantees in post-war Ukraine, stating that the EU "should have a pointer in the form of Russia’s position" the next time the bloc discusses the topic.

The spokeswoman further touched on the US' approval to sell over 3,000 ERAM missiles to Kyiv, arguing that this was contrary to Washington's stated desire to resolve the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war by diplomatic means.

Zakharova went on to say that Russia is closely monitoring the Namejs 2025 military drills being held in Latvia on Sept. 2-Oct. 8, along with other NATO exercises.

"These latest rumors about Ursula von der Leyen and her plane landing using paper maps give off a sense of despair," Zakharova added, referring to the EU commission's announcement Monday of a suspected Russian GPS jamming of her plane while landing in Bulgaria a day prior.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, in remarks to the Financial Times the same day, denied Moscow's involvement in the failure of GPS navigation systems on the plane carrying von der Leyen.

The British newspaper reported earlier that the plane's pilots had to land in Bulgaria using paper maps.