Trump envoy says Russian concern over NATO enlargement is fair

30/5/2025 14:48

U.S. President Donald Trump's envoy to Ukraine, Keith Kellogg, said Russia's concern over the eastward enlargement of NATO was fair and the United States did not want to see Ukraine in the U.S.-led military alliance.



Asked by U.S. network ABC News about a Reuters report that Russia wanted a written pledge over NATO not enlarging eastwards to include Ukraine and other former Soviet republics, Kellogg said: "It's a fair concern."



"We've said that to us, Ukraine coming into NATO is not on the table, and we're not the only country that says that - you know I could probably give you four other countries in NATO and it takes 32 of the 32 to allow you to come in to NATO," he told ABC late on Thursday. "That's one of the issues that Russia will bring up."



"They're not just talking Ukraine, they're talking the country of Georgia, they're talking Moldova," Kellogg said, adding that a decision on U.S. views of NATO enlargement was for Trump to make.



Kellogg said the sequencing of the peace talks would include an attempt to merge the two memorandums drafted by Ukraine and Russia into one single document with talks in Turkey on Monday.