Russia rules out 'any options' for European peacekeepers in Ukraine

By Dmitry Antonov and Andrew Osborn

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Wednesday that Moscow could not consider "any options" for European peacekeepers being sent to Ukraine and that the idea was aimed at fuelling the conflict and making it harder to de-escalate.

French President Emmanuel Macron spoke in favour of the concept during talks with U.S. President Donald Trump on Monday, saying troops could be deployed to ensure that any peace deal was respected. Trump said he accepted the idea and that Russian President Vladimir Putin did too, though the Kremlin later indicated that Russian opposition to it was unchanged.

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who is due to hold talks with Trump on Thursday, has said he would be ready to send British troops to Ukraine as part of any postwar peacekeeping force.

But Lavrov, who has previously called the proposal "unacceptable," set out Moscow's objections to any deployment in some of the strongest terms yet, removing any doubt about the matter after Trump's suggestion that Putin had come round to the idea.

"We cannot consider any options" when it comes to European peacekeepers, he said during a visit to Qatar.

"Trump said that a decision on the deployment of peacekeeping forces would only be possible with the consent of both sides. Apparently referring to us and Ukraine. Nobody has asked us about this," said Lavrov, who some Western diplomats nickname "Doctor No" because of his habit of frequently voicing Moscow's objections to various Western initiatives.

"This approach, which is being imposed by the Europeans, primarily France, but also the British, is aimed at what I just mentioned: to further fuel the conflict and to stop any attempts to calm it down."

Doubling down on Russia's so far maximalist approach to any potential settlement over Ukraine, Lavrov indicated Moscow still wanted full control over four regions it claims as its own in any deal, despite Ukrainian objections.

He also said there would not be a settlement that left the two sides facing off against each other along a line of contact, indicating that Moscow was interested in a solution that would leave the territory that remains under Ukraine's control less hostile to Russia and Russian-speakers.

Ukraine has repeatedly denied Russian assertions it has repressed ethnic Russians and Russian-speakers on its territory.

"Therefore, we cannot get away with such simple technical measures like deploying troops. We need to talk about the root causes (of the conflict)," Lavrov said.

"The root causes were the (attempted) dragging of Ukraine into NATO and the total eradication of the rights of Russians and Russian-speaking people."

(Reporting by Dmitry Antonov, Writing by Andrew Osborn; Editing by Mark Trevelyan)