Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said that the topic of Russian-Ukrainian peace talks has turned into a "conspiracy" against Moscow, the Anatolian Agency reported.
Speaking at a round table on the settlement of the Ukrainian conflict with the participation of the ambassadors of 35 countries in Moscow, Lavrov said that the West is trying to "turn everything upside down".
"About the topic of the so-called peace talks, there is a real conspiracy, as well as attempts to turn everything upside down through pseudo-diplomacy," he said.
Russia is ready to respond to all serious initiatives on the Russian-Ukrainian settlement and this position has not changed, he said, adding that "all the balls" regarding the organization of the process between Russia and Ukraine are in the field of Kiev.
According to him, the problem is that instead of promoting a fair process, the West is trying to attract the countries of the world majority to support the initiative of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, which he called a "peace formula".
"The West has been claiming for months that this "peace formula" is the only basis for negotiation. It starts from innocent themes ... and then reaches the purpose for which it was invented - to inflict a strategic defeat on Russia, to restore the borders of Ukraine as they were in 1991, to court-martial the Russian leadership, forcing Russia to pay reparations, and then "by mercy" to agree to sign a peace agreement", said Russia's first diplomat.
According to the foreign minister, the West is trying to convince the countries of Africa, Asia and Latin America to support Zelensky's initiative "only in those points they like", which is "outright fraud".
Lavrov defined such actions as "an attempt to involve normal states in an absolutely unrealistic, Russophobic, ultimate undertaking" with the aim of using their names to show "growing support".
"These are exactly those dirty methods that the West uses not only in relation to Ukraine, but also in many other areas of world politics,", he criticized.
Commenting on remarks by US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken, who said Ukraine would be ready for talks when Russia agreed, Lavrov asked if Blinken knew that Ukraine's president had banned peace talks with all Russian officials during his presidency. Vladimir Putin.
"I hope that the countries that come to us with peace initiatives know about this ban,", the diplomat stressed.
The Russian side is ready to meet with Cardinal Matteo Zuppi, head of the Conference of Italian Bishops, to discuss the Ukrainian crisis, Lavrov said.
The minister recalled that Russia had held several meetings with representatives of Turkey and Africa on the issues of Ukraine.
"We appreciate the efforts that the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia made without much publicity, especially in organizing the exchange of prisoners of war,", he noted.
"Now the efforts of the Vatican, whose messenger will come again, continue. We are ready to meet with everyone, we are ready to talk with everyone," the minister said.
Sergey Lavrov criticized the Ukrainian side for looking for ways to export its grain that would not lead to the lifting of sanctions against Russia.
"When now some of our colleagues, including the heads of the UN secretariat, say that everything will be fine with the Russian part of the deal, no one pays attention to the fact that the Kiev regime claims the following - "we will never agree to resumption of this deal in such a way that both Russian grain and fertilizers are exempted from the illegal sanctions," he said.
The minister also claimed that the US is buying up all the weapons to send to Ukraine in order to free up the market for US arms manufacturers.
"The market is being cleared for the supply of US military products for the rearmament of EU and NATO countries by providing large funds and purchasing US weapons produced by US corporations,'' the diplomat said.
Source: dariknews.bg