Russia says ready to work with any US leader, hails Vance's Ukraine stance

Russia has signalled an openness to working with whomever the American people elect in November as the nation heads toward presidential elections.

It also lauded on Wednesday Republican vice presidential nominee JD Vance's opposition to further military assistance for Ukraine.

"We will remain ready to work with any US leader who the US people elect, and which the leader will be willing to engage in equitable, mutually respectful dialogue," Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said in remarks translated from Russian at the UN's New York headquarters.

"Under Trump, there were more and more sanctions that were imposed, economic sanctions, diplomatic sanctions were imposed; however, at that time ... dialogue was underway between us and Washington at the highest levels," Lavrov said.

"Right now, there is no such dialogue," he said of the Biden administration, adding that since Russia's war in Ukraine began in 2022, high-level contacts between Washington and Moscow had dried up.

Russia currently holds the UN Security Council presidency and Lavrov is in the city to chair a pair of Council meetings.

Lavrov further voiced approval to reporters for Vance's opposition to Ukraine aid, saying he is "in favour of peace, in favour of ending the assistance that's been provided, and we can only welcome that, because that's what we need, to stop pumping Ukraine full of weapons, and then the war will end."

Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump announced Vance as his running mate on Monday in a long-awaited announcement that has further raised concerns in Europe about the continuation of American support for Ukraine if the former president secures reelection.

Trump's stance towards Ukraine casts doubt

During last week's NATO summit in Washington, allies announced plans to form a new command at a headquarters in Germany led by a three-star general with logistics hubs in eastern flank nations to facilitate the alliance's continued military assistance to Kiev.

The action to bring the mission under NATO's auspices is being taken in part to insulate the process from potential disruptions that could be caused by Trump's reelection.

Concerns over US aid to Ukraine mounted in recent months due to Trump's potential comeback, who the Democrats often criticise as being too soft on Russia.

Ukraine hailed last week's NATO summit declaration, but said the next step should be a membership in the alliance and a lift of restrictions on how to use weapons in Russia.

Yesterday, former Russian president Dmitry Medvedev said a Ukraine NATO membership would essentially be a declaration of war.