Russia is “ready for negotiations” on Ukraine | Press Conference | United Nations

Press Conference by Sergey Lavrov, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov today (17 Jul) said Russia is “ready for negotiations” on Ukraine, but stressed that before signing any agreement, Russia “will look at the wording very carefully and will protect this document from repeated, unscrupulous, non-binding clauses and malicious interpretations.”

Talking to reporters in New York, Lavrov said, “the so-called Zelenskyy plan” has “the distinct form of an ultimatum,” and is “unacceptable, which is well known to everyone for a long time.

He said, “when it comes to peace efforts, for some reason everyone is talking about” the June 2024 Ukraine peace summit in Bürgenstock, and “no one is talking about China's initiatives, which were several earlier this year and were mentioned yesterday in their speech.”

The Russian Foreign Minister said, “if we talk about the evolution of this whole process. We are told that Russia must withdraw to the 1991 border. The problem is we've been lied to all the time. If the agreement signed by President Yanukovych with the opposition had been implemented in February 2014 - and it consisted in creating a government of national unity and preparing for early presidential elections - if it were implemented, Ukraine would now be within the borders of 1991.”

He said, “if the Minsk Agreements were fulfilled, Ukraine would be within the 1991 borders minus Crimea. Because no one even stuttered about Crimea at that time.”

Lavrov said, “it turned out that we were also lied to when they said that this agreement was the way to peace. Or they didn't lie. Probably, the Ukrainian negotiators were sincere when they initiated this document to endorse. But, as the chief negotiator admitted in a recent TV interview, Boris Johnson came and barred them from fulfilling the agreement. That is why it was never signed.”

He said, “taking into account the sad experience of talking and consulting with the West and Ukrainians, the agreement that, I hope, will be reached at some stage on European security, and in this context, the Ukrainian crisis will be resolved. Of course, we will look at the wording very carefully and will protect this document from repeated, unscrupulous, non-binding clauses and malicious interpretations.”

Asked about the upcoming elections in the United States, the Russian official said, “it was during Trump's presidency that the sanctions war began. Obama started it, in fairness. Under Trump, sanctions increased, both economic and diplomatic. But at that time, as I said, there was a dialogue between us and Washington at the highest and highest levels. There is no such dialogue now.”

Lavrov is in New York coinciding with Russia’s presidency of the Security Council and on Tuesday (16 Jul) chaired a Ministerial-level meeting on “Multilateral cooperation in the interest of a more just, democratic and sustainable world order.”