MOSCOW, April 12. /TASS/. US Presidential Special Envoy for Ukraine Keith Kellogg’s idea to divide Ukraine into zones of control between European countries and Russia, following the example of post-war Berlin, is one of the options for freezing the conflict and could lead to a new escalation, but at a different level, Rodion Miroshnik, the Russian Foreign Ministry’s ambassador-at-large, said on Saturday.
"By keeping the militarization zone there and the formation of radicalized elements is one of the options of freezing, which may be later implemented through a new level of escalation," Miroshnik said during a live broadcast on the Soloviev Live TV channel.
"Therefore, this toxic hotspot upholds these options of occupation," Miroshnik continued. "By preserving the influence on this territory, including the military one, without creating a demilitarized zone in the area raises serious concerns for the near future."
"The period of time for [the Kiev regime] to heal its wounds may be very short indeed - they gathered, analyzed the previous experience, prepared themselves, pumped tens of thousands of troops through Great Britain again and deployed them to the battlefront once again."
The Times reported earlier citing Kellogg that Ukraine could be divided into control zones between European countries and Russia like Berlin after the Second World War. UK and French troops could adopt zones of control in Ukraine’s west, forming a "reassurance force" for allegedly preventing the resumption of combat operations whereas Russia could control the east of the country. Between the European and Russian troops would be Ukrainian forces, and a demilitarized zone could be implemented along existing lines of control, Kellogg added.
Kellogg later denied this information stating on his page on X social media: "The Times article misrepresents what I said. I was speaking of a post-cease fire resiliency force in support of Ukraine’s sovereignty. In discussions of partitioning, I was referencing areas or zones of responsibility for an allied force (without US troops). I was not referring to a partitioning of Ukraine."
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on March 12 that the presence of NATO troops under any flag and in any capacity on Ukrainian soil is a threat to Russia, adding that Moscow would not accept this under any circumstances.
