Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said a war that followed an attack on Russia by European countries would be “different and short.”
Lavrov made the assessment on Tuesday at a roundtable meeting with representatives of foreign missions in Moscow.
Moscow declares it is ready for talks
Addressing the possibility of trilateral talks between Russia, the United States and Ukraine resuming, Lavrov said Moscow was ready for serious negotiations. He said Russia had not abandoned the talks and that they could be held in either a trilateral or bilateral format. Lavrov argued that Moscow had never sought to prolong or complicate the negotiations.
Lavrov recalled that Russia and Ukraine held talks in Istanbul in 2022. The Russian minister argued that the Istanbul agreements had been blocked as a result of Western intervention and said Russia would not halt its “special military operation” during the negotiations.
Lavrov said Russia’s conditions regarding Ukraine had not changed, but added that Moscow was ready to seek reasonable compromises. These conditions include ensuring Russia’s security, preventing NATO from moving closer to Russia’s borders, and guaranteeing the legitimate rights of Russians and Russian speakers.
Lavrov criticizes Europe’s Ukraine policy
Lavrov argued that, unlike other Western countries, the United States understood these fundamental reasons. He said they appreciated the U.S. administration’s efforts to find a solution to the Ukraine crisis and stated that Washington had not offered Russia any deal involving the Iran issue in exchange for a solution on Ukraine.
Lavrov said European Union countries had stated that they would never recognize Crimea and Donbas and that they recognized the 1991 borders. He criticized the continuation of this position in EU documents and political statements. Lavrov also said the European Union continued to support Ukraine’s potential NATO membership.
Lavrov argued that the world would not have experienced a year of war if Europeans had not persuaded the United States to abandon the Anchorage agreements. He said European countries had occasionally tried to establish a secret communication channel with Moscow over Ukraine and stated that Russia had never withdrawn from the negotiations.
Russian ships and regional issues
Lavrov said European countries had detained Russian ships and expressed concern over the recent increase in interference with freedom of maritime navigation. He claimed that European countries had detained 12 ships since January on “fabricated grounds.”
Lavrov said an agreement signed between Iran and the United States in June had not been implemented and that U.S. President Donald Trump’s plan for Gaza had not been put into effect. He argued that the United States had not yet found solutions to the issues involving Ukraine, Iran and Palestine. Lavrov said the Iran issue should be resolved through initiatives by the countries of the region.
