US to Continue Causing Russia Problems Even if Peace Deal Reached With Kiev - Ex-Official

WASHINGTON (Sputnik) - The United States will continue to cause Moscow problems even if the Biden administration allows Ukraine to sign a peace deal with Russia, former US Assistant Treasury Secretary Paul Craig Roberts told Sputnik.

After three hours of deliberations in Istanbul on Tuesday, Russian and Ukrainian negotiators emerged to report progress in the talks to resolve the Ukrainian crisis. According to officials on both sides, Kiev promised not to join NATO while Moscow agreed not to oppose Ukraine entering the EU, among other terms.

Kiev also proposed security guarantees for Ukraine with the UN Security Council members acting as guarantors - along with Turkey, Germany, Canada, Italy, Poland, and Israel. In addition, the Russian delegation said a meeting between President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is possible after the parties agree to a deal.

"It is unclear that Washington will allow its puppet Zelensky to sign the agreement, or keep it if it is signed," Roberts said. "Washington will continue to cause problems for Russia."

Roberts said it is also unclear how Ukraine can be in the EU and remain neutral considering Austria, which is in a similar situation, agreed to impose sanctions on Russia.

Moscow, he added, must deal decisively with the Ukraine issue now and leave no room for its reappearance.

"Russia should sign no agreement unless it contains Ukraine's acceptance that Crimea and Donbas are not part of Ukraine," Roberts said.

The former US official also said Russia should consider if Ukraine can be trusted to keep this agreement when Kiev refused to abide the terms of the Minsk accords. Besides, he added, Putin and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said many times it was a mistake to trust the West.

"There were guarantors of the Minsk agreement, and they did nothing," Roberts said. "So why repeat the mistake again?"