MOSCOW, Feb 19, 2025 (BSS/AFP) - Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on 
Wednesday praised US President Donald Trump for blaming the Ukraine conflict 
on moves to admit Kyiv into the NATO military alliance.

Trump has repeatedly blamed the conflict on his predecessor, Joe Biden, and 
has said the nearly three years of fighting would "never have started" had he 
been president in 2022.

"He is the first, and so far, in my opinion, the only Western leader who has 
publicly and loudly said that one of the root causes of the Ukrainian 
situation was the previous administration's pushy line of dragging Ukraine 
into NATO," Lavrov said of Trump in a question-and-answer session with 
lawmakers in Russia's State Duma.

The comments came a day after US and Russian officials met in Saudi Arabia 
for their first high-level talks in over three years.

Trump's diplomatic overtures towards the Kremlin have alarmed Ukraine, which 
fears it will be sidelined in any future peace negotiations and forced to 
make massive concessions to end the fighting.

The Republican has upended US foreign policy since coming to office last 
month, making support for Ukraine dependant on access to its rare minerals 
while echoing Russian President Vladimir Putin's positions on the conflict.

In a press conference in January, before his inauguration, Trump directly 
blamed Biden's move to admit Ukraine as a NATO member for spurring the 
conflict.

"A big part of the problem was Russia for many, many years -- long before 
Putin -- said: 'You could never have NATO involved with Ukraine'," Trump told 
reporters at a press conference on January 7.

"And somewhere along the line, Biden said: 'No, they should be able to join 
NATO.' Well, then, Russia has somebody right on their doorstep, and I could 
understand their feeling about that."