Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said in a press conference after his speech to the UN General Assembly that Russia was ready to sit down for negotiations with Ukraine, but without considering a ceasefire.
Photo: EFE – EVGENY BYATOV/HOST PHOTO AGENCY/
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Saturday that his country was ready to return to the negotiating table with Ukraine but that it would not consider “a proposal for a ceasefire.”
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“[El presidente de Rusia, Vladímir] Putin has clearly stated that we are ready to negotiate. But we will not consider a proposal for a ceasefire because we have already made it once and were deceived,” Lavrov said during a press conference after his speech at the UN General Assembly in New York.
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The minister recalled that there had already been meetings between Russian and Ukrainian delegations in April last year and accused Kiev of betting on an expansion of the military conflict in order to “exhaust” Russia.
Lavrov also accused the United States and Western nations of prolonging the war by refusing to consider a peace proposal that deviates from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s official position, which calls for Russia’s complete withdrawal from Ukrainian territory and provides for the “full restoration” of its sovereignty.
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This proposal is not feasible, Lavrov said. “Do you want (the negotiations) to take place on the battlefield? Very good, because it will be on the battlefield,” he assured.
Black clouds over the grain agreement
The Russian also did not give many positive signals on another important issue on which the UN has tried to mediate: the so-called “grain agreement”, which is intended to facilitate the export of Russian and Ukrainian grain and Russian fertilizers via a secure corridor in the Black Sea that Moscow has not renewed.
Lavrov pointed to proposals by U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres to facilitate Russian financial transactions through a subsidiary of the Russian Agricultural Bank in Luxembourg to revive the deal, saying they “wouldn’t work.”
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“We do not reject them,” Lavrov said, “they are simply not realistic.” The minister explained that the Luxembourg subsidiary proposed by Guterres had not even received a banking license to operate.
Lavrov’s appearance was primarily about accusing Washington and its NATO allies of wanting to maintain the “status quo” out of fear of a “new world order” with greater participation from the countries of the global south, a common message from the Russian delegation to the UN since the invasion began.
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