Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Tuesday poured cold water on expectations surrounding peace negotiations in Ukraine and the hypothetical meeting between the presidents of the two warring countries, Vladimir Putin and Volodymyr Zelensky. On the one hand, in response to the United States' rush to hold the summit in August, Lavrov emphasized that preparing for a meeting"between heads of state" must be planned with great care. On the other hand, he ruled out a possible peace in exchange for territory:"The Russian Federation never aimed to seize Crimea, Donbas, or Novorossiya [the Russian historical-administrative concept of the eastern and southern regions of Ukraine within the Russian Empire], its main task was to protect the Russian people," he declared in an interview with Rossiya 1. However, he noted that"territorial exchanges are often essential components of conflict resolution."
Moscow is trying not to lose Trump's favor without openly closing any doors."Russia does not reject any negotiation format on Ukraine, neither bilateral nor trilateral," the foreign minister added. Putin has hinted that Moscow could be the venue for a future meeting with Zelensky, according to the British newspaper The Guardian, quoting the AFP news agency, which, in turn, cites two sources close to the call between the US and Russian leaders. One of the sources stated that"Putin mentioned Moscow" as a possible venue, adding that Zelensky said"no."
Lavrov used the interview to describe the atmosphere of the talks between Putin and US President Donald Trump as "very good" for adopting a "much more in-depth approach to resolving this crisis." The Russian foreign minister reiterated that this approach must involve "eliminating the root causes" of the conflict, a euphemism Russian officials often use to refer to NATO and the European Union's rapprochement with the former Soviet republic.
“One of these root causes is the problem of Russia's security. The commitments we made to prevent NATO's eastward expansion have been systematically violated for decades,” Lavrov insisted. The Russian foreign minister took the opportunity to criticize the role of “the Europeans,” who, in his opinion, “shouted from every corner that there must be a ceasefire, after which they would continue to supply arms to Ukraine.” At the White House meeting, Zelensky offered Trump the opportunity to purchase $90 billion (about €77 billion) worth of US weapons, an expense that the Europeans would assume as part of the security guarantees that kyiv expects.
The European Union has insisted on its willingness to participate in the negotiations between Moscow, Kyiv, and Washington. On Monday, following the visit of Zelensky and seven European leaders to the White House, French President Emmanuel Macron proposed that the next meeting not be trilateral, but rather"quatrilateral," with Europe present. In an interview with the French broadcaster LCI, the president suggested the meeting take place in"a neutral country," such as Switzerland. Swiss Foreign Minister Ignazio Cassis responded that his country"is prepared" for the meeting and would offer "immunity" to Putin, who is subject to an arrest warrant from the International Criminal Court.
Regarding Zelensky’s refusal to negotiate Ukrainian sovereignty over Donbas given the constitutional ban on ceding territories to Russia, Lavrov noted that “ironically,” the Ukrainian Constitution “still preserves the guarantee of fully guaranteeing the rights of Russians and other national minorities, despite the laws passed banning the Russian language.” “If he cares so much about his Constitution, then he would start with its first articles, which establish this guarantee,” Lavrov said, while referring to the fact that respect for “the full rights of Russians in Ukraine” is necessary to “talk about long-term agreements.”
“It is nothing new that all of this has been covered up by various figures such as Ursula Von der Leyen, Emmanuel Macron, Keir Starmer, Friedrich Merz, and Olaf Scholz before him. And Joe Biden, of course, and his administration. They were the leaders who ignored and distorted all the facts underlying the root causes of the Ukrainian crisis,” he stressed. The Kremlin has embraced Trump's criticism of his Democratic predecessor as its own. At the Alaska meeting, Putin stated on camera that if Trump had been president in 2022, the offensive would not have occurred.
"President [Putin] has reiterated this on numerous occasions. The key is that these formats are not sought for media coverage or for evening television broadcasts," Lavrov added. The Republican announced on Monday that he is speeding up preparations for a meeting between the presidents of Russia and Ukraine, which would be followed by a meeting attended by Trump.
"At the end of the meeting, I called President Putin and began preparations for a meeting, at a location to be determined, between Putin and Zelensky. Following that meeting, we will have a trilateral meeting between the two presidents and myself," Trump said on Monday on his social media platform, Truth. Meanwhile, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio anticipated in an interview on Fox News that both sides will have to"make concessions" to reach an end to the war."It's not easy, and it may not even be fair, but it's what it takes to end a war. And that's been true in every war," he said.
Meanwhile, the Russian Foreign Ministry reiterated this Monday that its country is strongly opposed to the deployment of any type of Western troops in Ukraine.
