President Volodymyr Zelenskiy pressed his case on Thursday for Ukraine to be part of the NATO military alliance and urged the alliance to provide security guarantees if membership were not possible for now.
"Ukraine's membership in NATO, of course, is one of the main irritants and would be a potential problem for many, many years," Peskov said.
NATO leaders agreed at a summit in Bucharest in 2008 that Ukraine and Georgia would one day become members of NATO.
So far, however, no concrete steps or timetable has been published that would actually bring Ukraine closer to NATO.
"The Russian Federation... will ensure its interests and its security," Peskov said.
Persons:
Volodymyr Zelenskiy, Dmitry Peskov, Peskov, Guy Faulconbridge, Gareth Jones
Organizations:
Ukraine, NATO, European Union, Kremlin, EU, Russian Federation, Thomson
Locations:
MOSCOW, United States, Ukraine, EU, Bucharest, Georgia, Europe, Russia