NATO will likely not comply with Russian President Vladimir Putin’s demands regarding Ukraine’s future, Fred Fleitz, a former National Security Council chief of staff under President Donald Trump, said on Newsmax, Sunday.
Putin’s list of concessions from Kyiv reportedly includes ceding the eastern Donbas region, formally abandoning ambitions to join NATO, prohibiting Western troops from being stationed in the country, and allowing Russia a role in determining Ukraine’s security guarantees.
“I don’t think NATO membership is on the table right now,” Fleitz said in an interview on Newsmax’s “Wake Up America Weekend.” “Hungary is going to veto that. It has to be a unanimous vote.”
There is also a “deadlock between the idea of some type of security guarantee force that would be composed of European ground troops and a territory swap,” said Fleitz, who also dismissed Moscow’s call for Ukraine to be demilitarized or blocked from receiving military aid.
“That’s off the table,” he said. “Russia’s not going to participate in a security force to prevent Russia from invading. That makes no sense. I don’t think that’s a serious proposal.”
Some of Russia’s demands, however, can be negotiated, Fleitz said.
“I think that there could be a deployment of peacekeeping forces of neutral troops, but this is assuming that Putin really wants peace,” he said. “I think Trump is coming to the conclusion that he doesn’t. And I think in about two weeks, we’re going to see the imposition of very tough energy and then economic sanctions against Russia.”
Fleitz also cautioned against trusting Putin.
“At heart, he is a lifetime hardcore Soviet KGB [agent],” he said. “The Soviet Union collapsed, the KGB changed its name, but this is who Putin is. From the very beginning, this war in Ukraine was an attack and war against Europe, the West, and the United States. He sees the United States as an enemy.”
He further pointed to rhetoric on Russian television advocating the use of nuclear weapons against Europe, the U.S., and Ukraine.
“Believe them,” he said. “They say we are basically their enemy, and we’re not. We want friendship. So President Trump is on the right track to look for a positive relationship with Russia and Putin. But it’s Putin who needs to come around, not President Trump, and we cannot trust him.”
Russia’s nuclear arsenal and partnership with China heighten the stakes of the conflict, Fleitz added.
“A country that has basically effectively 1,500 thermonuclear weapons aimed at the United States and Europe is not only not a friend, but incredibly, incredibly dangerous,” he said. “We need to stop them in Ukraine, because if we don’t stop them in Ukraine, they’ll keep on going. And it won’t do us any favors in containing China either, because these two countries are basically effectively allies. Ukraine is the first line of defense for the rest of the world here.”
Fleitz also voiced concern over Russia’s recent large-scale airstrikes in Ukraine, despite ongoing peace discussions.
“I’m afraid it conveys that Putin isn’t interested in peace at all. We’ve seen him dragging his feet on meeting with Zelenskyy, which Trump has called for. I’m just concerned that Putin took this meeting with Trump, and he’s simply not following up on his agreements,” Fleitz said, referring to Ulraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
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