Foreign Minister Lavrov: The West sets a roadmap to advance Mr. Zelensky's plans
Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said the West is trying to promote Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky's plans in every possible way.
According to RIA Novosti, at a press conference after a meeting at the United Nations Security Council on July 17 in Washington, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said that the West is trying to promote Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky's plans in every possible way.
“They have laid out a roadmap for implementing the so-called Zelensky plan at all costs, in the form of an ultimatum,” Lavrov stressed. This is how he answered the question about the possibility of Russia participating in the second summit on the Ukrainian conflict and about the results of the recent conference in Switzerland.
The Russian Foreign Minister also noted that the West, in its initiatives on Ukraine, does not mention the root causes of the conflict. Mr. Lavrov recalled that there were many preconditions - a coup, a ban on the use of the Russian language and non-compliance with the Minsk agreements.
The Russian foreign minister stressed that a number of countries, including China and Brazil, support holding a peace conference based on principles that must be accepted by all sides. “At the same time, when talking about conflict resolution, everyone focuses on the summit in Bürgenstock, Switzerland, but no one mentions Beijing’s initiative,” Lavrov added.
According to Mr. Lavrov, resolving this crisis must take into account the current reality. At the same time, to end the conflict, the West needs to stop supplying weapons to Kiev.
The Russian Foreign Minister also stressed that the issue of new regions annexed to Russia through referendums will “not be discussed”.
“In any case, we cannot abandon the people. Not all the territories there have been annexed. But we cannot let those who voted to leave Russia,” said Foreign Minister Lavrov.
Earlier, a diplomatic source in the Turkish capital Ankara told RIA Novosti that there was no specific information about the date and location of the next conference on Ukraine, but Saudi Arabia was being considered one of the possible options.
