In an interview published on Sunday for Russia’s TASS news agency, Sergei Lavrov, the Russian foreign minister, said the Kremlin was “not satisfied” by reported proposals by the Trump team to station European peacekeepers in Ukraine and to put a 20-year freeze on Ukraine entering NATO.

The Institute for the Study of War (ISW), a U.S-based think-tank, said the interview indicated that Moscow has “rejected out-of-hand two of the conditions President-elect Donald Trump's team [set out] in early November 2024 as conditions for ending the war in Ukraine.”

Lavrov’s comments came a day after President Vladimir Putin doubled down on demands to remove “extremists” from power in the Ukrainian government, something analysts have viewed as a clear indicator that the Kremlin remains flatly unwilling to backtrack and enter peace negotiations.

On December 26, Lavrov parroted previous Kremlin claims and identified NATO’s alleged eastward “expansion” as one of two “root causes” of the war.

The foreign minister also pinned the blame on the Ukrainian government’s supposed victimization of ethnic Russians and its targeting of Russian media, language and culture. Allegations of discrimination have been rejected by the Ukrainian government.

Lavrov’s views echo those of Vladimir Putin. On December 28, the Russian president signed a new ‘Strategy for Countering Extremism in Russia,’, an act that underscored his goal of ‘de-nazifying’ Ukraine.

Demonstrating the Kremlin’s refusal to ease any of the demands made when the full-scale invasion was launched in 2022, the new document listed Ukraine as the primary source of extremism whilst simultaneously accusing Kyiv of peddling Neo-Nazi ideals.

Continuing, the document highlighted the need to “eliminate” the extremist threat posed by Ukraine.

Putin last signed a ‘Strategy for Countering Extremism in Russia’ in 2020. However, this latest version has amplified previous points while including several additions explicitly made with Ukraine in mind.

Among others, the latest iteration refers to “Russophobia” and the need to combat “unfriendly, biased and hostile” attitudes and “discriminatory actions” towards Russia and its people and culture.

According to the ISW, “the Kremlin will likely exploit this new strategy document to justify its calls for the removal of the Ukrainian government as ‘anti-extremist’ measures.”

In its assessment, the ISW added: “The strategy document also included points that will resonate with the Russian pro-war ultranationalist community, likely as part of Kremlin efforts to placate and garner favor with this key constituency.”