Lavrov claims any Russia-US deal would mean the end of Zelensky

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Sunday that Volodymyr Zelensky does not want to negotiate and has repeatedly derailed talks. According to him, the reason is that any agreement acceptable to Moscow and Washington would mean the end of Zelensky’s “regime” and of Zelensky himself. Lavrov offered no evidence for these claims.

He accused Kyiv of wrecking the Minsk agreements, the 2022 Istanbul talks and the trilateral meetings in Abu Dhabi. The minister made the remarks on the sidelines of talks with representatives of Arab countries in Bahrain. Ukrainian media have now picked up his statement.

Earlier this year, representatives of Ukraine, Russia and the United States held three rounds of trilateral talks: two in Abu Dhabi in January and February, and another in Geneva on 17 and 18 February. They ended with a prisoner exchange but produced neither a comprehensive ceasefire agreement nor a political settlement. Fundamental disagreements over the occupied territories, security guarantees and the terms for ending the fighting remained.

No new trilateral meetings have taken place since February. As Kyiv Post notes, Moscow still demands that Ukraine recognise the Russian occupation and withdraw its troops from areas that Russia claims but does not fully control. Kyiv rejects these demands and insists that any peace must protect Ukraine’s sovereignty and provide genuinely effective security guarantees.

Around Prague, based on reporting by novinky.cz