“I said once again that all the problems are related to the Ukrainian side, which categorically rejects the negotiations and proposes clearly unrealistic conditions,” Lavrov told reporters, stressing that he expressed this position during a meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron.
Russian and Ukrainian officials held several rounds of unsuccessful negotiations at the start of the conflict, including meetings hosted by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
With the United Nations and Turkey, questsummer Russia and Ukraine signed an agreement to resume exports from Ukrainian ports to allow grain exports.
But Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Kiev will not be able to hold negotiations for pace with Moscow as long as Russian President Vladimir Putin remains in power.
Lavrov said that German Chancellor Olaf “Schulz and Macron are well aware that this process is being hindered by Ukraine, which, including through laws and decrees issued by Zelensky, prohibits negotiations with the Russian Federation”. “This is not a question” addressed to Russia, he added.
“We want to see prove tangible that the West is seriously interested in capturing Zelensky and making it clear to him that this cannot continue and that this is not in the interest of the Ukrainian people “, said the Foreign Minister.
Meanwhile, Zelensky has launched a video appeal to G-20 leaders to pressure Russia to withdraw its forces after nearly nine months of fighting.
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