---
title: "Russia demands 'ironclad' guarantees in peace treaty with Ukraine"
description: "March 17 (Reuters) - Russia will seek \"ironclad\" guarantees in any peace deal on Ukraine that NATO nations will exclude Kyiv from membership and that Ukraine will remain neutral, a Russian deputy foreign minister said in remarks published on Monday."
type: "NewsArticle"
publisher: "Daily Maverick"
site: "https://www.dailymaverick.co.za"
section: "Newsdeck"
author: "Reuters"
author_url: "https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/author/reuters/"
canonical_url: "https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2025-03-17-russia-demands-ironclad-guarantees-in-peace-treaty-with-ukraine/"
published: "2025-03-17T04:40:34"
updated: "2025-03-17T04:40:36"
lang: "en-ZA"
word_count: 450
---

# Russia demands 'ironclad' guarantees in peace treaty with Ukraine

> March 17 (Reuters) - Russia will seek "ironclad" guarantees in any peace deal on Ukraine that NATO nations will exclude Kyiv from membership and that Ukraine will remain neutral, a Russian deputy foreign minister said in remarks published on Monday.

By Reuters · Published 17 March 2025, 06:40 SAST · Updated 17 March 2025, 06:40 SAST

## Key points
- In a diplomatic dance that could put the tango to shame, Moscow insists that any peace deal with Ukraine must come with a strict "no NATO membership" policy, while Western powers are ready to don their peacekeeping hats—assuming Kyiv is okay with it, of course.
- Russia insists any peace deal must exclude Ukraine's NATO membership and include security guarantees.
- Moscow only considers unarmed post-conflict observers, rejecting NATO deployment in Ukraine.
- France and Britain express readiness to send peacekeeping missions, while Australia remains open to requests.
- French President Macron emphasizes that decisions on peacekeeping troops lie with Kyiv, not Moscow.

## Content

- Peace deal to exclude Ukraine's NATO membership, Russia says
- Moscow open only to unarmed post-conflict observers in Ukraine
- France, Britain willing to send peacekeeping missions to Ukraine

Adds quotes, detail throughout

By Lidia Kelly

U.S. President [Donald Trump](https://www.reuters.com/world/us/donald-trump/)[is trying](https://www.reutersconnect.com/all?search=all%3AL1N3PZ03D&linkedFromStory=true) to win President [Vladimir Putin's](https://www.reuters.com/world/russia/vladimir-putin/) support for a 30-day ceasefire proposal that Ukraine accepted last week and which Putin says needs to meet crucial conditions to be acceptable.

[Trump](https://www.reuters.com/world/us/donald-trump/) is expected to speak with his [Putin](https://www.reuters.com/world/putin/) this week on ways to end the three-year [war in Ukraine](https://www.reuters.com/world/ukraine-russia-war/), U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff told CNN on Sunday after returning from what he described as a "positive" meeting with Putin in Moscow.

In a broad-ranging interview with the Russian media outlet Izvestia that made no reference to the ceasefire proposal, Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Grushko said that any long-lasting peace treaty on Ukraine must meet Moscow's demands.

"We will demand that ironclad security guarantees become part of this agreement," Izvestia cited Grushko as saying.

"Part of these guarantees should be the neutral status of Ukraine, the refusal of NATO countries to accept it into the alliance."

Moscow is categorically against the deployment of NATO observers to Ukraine, Grushko also reiterated the Kremlin's position.

Britain and France both have said that they [were willing](https://www.reutersconnect.com/all?search=all%3AL1N3PY022&linkedFromStory=true) to send a peacekeeping force to monitor any ceasefire in Ukraine. Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said his country was also open to requests.

"It does not matter under what label NATO contingents were to be deployed on Ukrainian territory: be it the European Union, NATO, or in a national capacity," Grushko said.

"If they appear there, it means that they are deployed in the conflict zone with all the consequences for these contingents as parties to the conflict."

Grushko said that a deployment of unarmed post-conflict observers can be discussed only once a peace agreement is worked out.

"We can talk about unarmed observers, a civilian mission that would monitor the implementation of individual aspects of this agreement, or guarantee mechanisms," Grushko said. "In the meantime, it's just hot air."

French President Emmanuel [Macron said](https://www.reutersconnect.com/all?search=all%3AL1N3PY022&linkedFromStory=true) in remarks published on Sunday that the stationing of peacekeeping troops in Ukraine is a question for Kyiv to decide and not Moscow.

Grushko said that European allies of Kyiv should understand that only the exclusion of Ukraine's membership in NATO and the elimination of the possibility of deploying foreign military contingents on its territory will work for the region.

"Then the security of Ukraine and the entire region in a broader sense will be ensured, since one of the root causes of the conflict will be eliminated," Grushko said.

(Reporting by Lidia Kelly in Melbourne; Editing by Lisa Shumaker and Michael Perry)