Kremlin spokesperson has said that reports from Washington suggesting that Ukraine will not join NATO are in line with Russia’s stance and that the Kremlin is pleased about this, writes pravda.com.ua.

“We have heard from Washington at various levels that NATO membership for Ukraine has been ruled out. And of course this is something that brings us satisfaction and coincides with our position that Ukraine should not be a member of NATO and should not have prospects of integration with the North Atlantic Alliance”, - said Dmitry Peskov.

He reiterated the Russian narrative that Ukraine’s accession to NATO would supposedly pose a threat “to Russia’s national interests”: “Ukraine’s NATO aspirations were supposedly one of the root causes of the war”.

However, Peskov declined to comment on media reports that the US is apparently prepared to recognise Russian control over Crimea as part of a peace deal between Russia and Ukraine: “There are currently many such reports and many discussions. Clearly, the work of finding ways to reach a peaceful settlement cannot and should not take place in the public domain. It must be conducted in an absolutely discreet manner, and therefore one should be very, very cautious about such anonymous information leaks”.