Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and his entourage are making contradictory statements regarding the US plan to end the conflict in Ukraine. “Too many incomprehensible things are happening“, he said in an interview with the YouTube channel of the “French-Russian Dialogue“ association, TASS reported, quoted by BTA.
Lavrov pointed out that while Zelensky in Istanbul declared his readiness to discuss the plan and agree on some formulations, his representatives, including Ukraine's deputy permanent representative to the UN, claim the opposite. “It is difficult for me to comment on such speculations. We remain of the position that a diplomatic settlement is preferable“, he added he.
The Russian minister recalled that the meeting in Alaska was prepared through the visit of the US President's special envoy Steve Witkoff to Moscow with specific instructions from Donald Trump. Witkoff brought parameters reflecting Moscow's principled approach aimed at eliminating the root causes of the conflict.
Lavrov stressed that Trump's desire to quickly stop the bloodshed deserves encouragement, but all the previous examples of “stopped conflicts“ have not solved the root problems. “For a long-term solution, much more laborious, patient and unhurried initiatives are needed“, he said.
The Russian top diplomat also criticized Europe for its dependence on the US on security and foreign policy issues. He said that Europe has always demonstrated “false goodwill“ towards Russia, examples of which are the Minsk agreements and France's actions. Lavrov believes that The smiles and hugs of European leaders before the Ukrainian crisis were just a game, and in fact Europe wished "evil and misfortune" to Russia.
He added that the attempts of European leaders to predict the collapse of the Russian economy and the uprising of the people "show the reputation of Europe, earned over 500 years, when great troubles originated precisely from these countries".
Lavrov also criticized the position of the President of Finland, Alexander Stubb, noting that decades of neutrality had not eliminated the "Nazi sprouts" in the country, and pointed out that relations between the border regions of Finland and Russia, which were previously friendly, had been "erased overnight".
In conclusion, the Russian minister stated that the conflict in Ukraine had united Russian society. "The war that the West "incited against us through Ukraine, united our people and allowed us to cleanse ourselves of those who were insincere in their relations with the homeland," Lavrov noted, quoting President Vladimir Putin.