MOSCOW (Reuters) – Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Wednesday that Moscow had yet to see any serious proposals for peace in Ukraine and that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s suggestions were absurd.
Lavrov said Moscow stood ready to discuss the conflict with Western countries and to respond to any serious proposals, but that any talks needed to address Russia’s wider security concerns.
Speaking at a news conference in Moscow, Lavrov called again for NATO to remove its “military infrastructure” from Ukraine and other countries close to Russia’s borders.
“There can be no talk of negotiations with Zelenskiy,” Lavrov said, describing the Ukrainian leader’s 10-point plan unveiled last November as consisting of “completely absurd initiatives”.
“As for the prospects for negotiations between Russia and the West on the Ukrainian issue, we will be ready to respond to any serious proposals. (But) we don’t see any serious proposals yet. We will be ready to consider them and decide,” Lavrov said.
Lavrov said statements by Western governments that they would not discuss anything about Ukraine without Kyiv’s involvement were “all nonsense”, because the West was actually taking the decisions.
(Reporting by Reuters; Editing by Kevin Liffey)
