(Reuters) – Russian Overseas Minister Sergei Lavrov, in an interview revealed on Friday, stated Ukraine’s proposed peace plan was pointless because it was based mostly on unacceptable notions like Moscow’s withdrawal from areas it has captured.
Lavrov informed the Moscow every day Izvestia {that a} proposed peace summit wouldn’t succeed till its elementary bases have been modified, together with permitting Russia to take part.
“We’re in any case prepared to carry discussions however not on the bases of (Ukrainian President Volodymyr) Zelenskiy’s ‘peace formulation’,” Lavrov informed the every day.
“How may any severe politician in Washington, Brussels, London, Paris or Berlin say that there isn’t any different to the Zelenskiy formulation,” he stated.
Lavrov dismissed as unacceptable the plan’s provisions, which name for Russia to withdraw from territory it has captured, together with Crimea, annexed in 2014, and the restoration of Ukraine’s 1991 post-Soviet borders. It additionally requires a way to convey Russia to account for its February 2022 invasion.
Zelenskiy rejects any notion of negotiations with Moscow on any foundation apart from the peace plan.
Lavrov stated he had met officers and diplomats from Switzerland who had assured him {that a} peace summit which Bern has agreed to host would come with Russian participation and be carried out on practical phrases.
He stated Swiss officers had informed him “we perceive that nothing might be solved with out you, that is unfair.” And as soon as the plan was was a “collective product”, Russia could be invited.
Lavrov additionally stated U.S. proposals to debate arms offers, uncoupling the problem from the Ukraine battle, made little sense.
“It’s a joke and doesn’t replicate nicely on these within the Administration in Washington coping with international coverage,” he informed Izvestia. “All this boils right down to the truth that international coverage in america is being directed by individuals who do not know the way to have interaction in diplomacy.”
(Reporting by Ronald Popeski; modifying by Miral Fahmy)
