US defence secretary Pete Hegseth rejected European criticism that US president Donald Trump had handed the initiative to Russia in efforts to end its invasion of Ukraine and denied that the White House approach to the Kremlin was a “betrayal” of Kyiv.
Mr Trump revealed that Saudi Arabia could be the venue for talks with Russian president Vladimir Putin, after they spoke by telephone on Wednesday, and Mr Hegseth said Ukraine should not expect to regain all occupied territory, join Nato or secure US peacekeepers as part of a negotiated end to the biggest war in Europe in 80 years.
“There is no betrayal there. There is a recognition that the whole world and the United States is invested and interested in peace, a negotiated peace, as president Trump has said ... So that will require both sides recognising things they don’t want to,” Mr Hegseth said at Nato headquarters in Brussels on Thursday.
The new US administration has not said what concessions Moscow should make, however, and Russian officials warmly welcomed Mr Trump’s approach as a stark contrast to what it called the hostile attitude of his predecessor, Joe Biden.
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“I think realism is an important part of the conversation that hasn’t existed enough ... but simply pointing out realism – like the borders won’t be rolled back to what everybody would like them to be ... is not a concession to Vladimir Putin,” Mr Hegseth said.
“The arguments that have been made that somehow coming to the table right now is making concessions to Vladimir Putin outright ... I just reject that at its face,” he added. “Any suggestion that president Trump is doing anything other than negotiating from a position of strength is ... false.”
Senior European officials questioned the wisdom of Mr Trump’s call to Mr Putin and Mr Hegseth’s announcement that the US backed at least two of Russia’s demands towards Ukraine – that it give up territory and abandon its hopes of joining Nato.
“Membership in Nato is the strongest security guarantee there is and actually the cheapest security guarantee,” said EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas.
“I would say that we shouldn’t take anything off the table before the negotiations have even started, because it plays to Russia’s court and is exactly what they want. Why are we giving them everything they want, even before the negotiations started?”
German foreign minister Annalena Baerbock said Ukraine and Europe must not be sidelined in talks between the US and Russia, and revealed that Washington had not told Berlin that Mr Trump would be calling the Russia and Ukrainian leaders.
“This is the way the Trump administration operates ... That, too, is different from other times. This is not how others do foreign policy, but this is now the reality,” she said.
Russian politicians praised Mr Trump and his call to Mr Putin, and appeared to take grim pleasure at the unease it caused in Kyiv and many European capitals.
“This is how you should communicate with Russia,” said Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov, claiming that western diplomacy must be in a parlous state when “many in the West, including leaders of the European Union, were shocked when a simple, normal conversation took place between two polite and educated individuals”.
Dmitry Medvedev, a former Russian president who is now deputy chairman of its security council, called Europe a “frigid spinster ... mad with jealousy and rage”.
“It wasn’t warned of the Putin-Trump call or consulted about its content or later statements. It shows its real role in the world and chances of snagging a husband. No wonder. Europe’s time is over. It’s weak, ugly and useless,” he wrote on social media.
