MOSCOW – Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Monday that peace talks with Ukraine would continue, while warning of the “real” threat of a third world war.
Speaking to Russian news agencies, he criticized Kiev’s approach to the talks, adding: “Goodwill has its limits. But if it’s not mutual, it doesn’t help the negotiation process.
“But we continue to conduct negotiations with the team delegated by us [Ukrainian President Volodymyr] Zelensky, and these contacts will continue.”
Lavrov accused former actor Zelenskyy of “pretending” to negotiate. “He’s a good actor,” he said. But he added: “If you watch carefully and read carefully what he says, you will find a thousand contradictions.”
Given the current tensions, Lavrov said the threat of a third world war was “real”.
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“The danger is serious, it’s real, you shouldn’t underestimate it,” Lavrov told the Interfax news agency.
Referring to the ongoing conflict in Ukraine, he said he was confident that “everything will of course end with the signing of an agreement.
“But the parameters of this deal will be defined by the state of the fighting that will have taken place by the moment the deal becomes a reality,” he added.
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