Lavrov: It is speculation that Putin agreed to meet Zelanski

It is speculated that Russian leader Vladimir Putin agreed to meet with the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelnski – said Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs Sergei Lavrov in a conversation with American NBC News TV broadcast on Sunday.

“These are speculations disseminated primarily by Zełenski himself and his European sponsors,” said Ławrow. He added that the matter of meeting both leaders was not discussed during the peak of US presidents Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin in Alaska. He noted that “this issue was raised later” when Trump called Putin during the visit of the European delegation to Washington.

The Russian minister said that Moscow is ready for direct Russian-Ukrainian negotiations, which began as part of the Istanbul format. He added that Putin said that the meeting of leaders at the top must be very well prepared. – To this end, we proposed an increase in the delegation level in Istanbul – he noted.

He accused the Ukrainian side and Europeans who visited Washington that they wanted to harm what Trump talked about with Putin in Anchorage.

He said Putin was ready to meet with Zelanski “provided that this meeting would really decide about something.” – There is no planned meeting. (…) There must be a ready -made agenda, and she is not ready at all – he announced.

– President Trump after (meeting) in Anchorage proposed several points where we agree. In some of them we agreed to show some flexibility – he added. According to him, “Washington believes that among the points that must be accepted, there is a lack of membership (Ukraine) in NATO, talks about territorial matters. And Zelanski did not agree to anything” – continued Lavrov in almost an hour conversation with NBC.

He added that the Kremlin recognizes Zelanski as a “de facto boss of the regime.” – As for the signing of legal documents (in the matter of peace), everyone will have to agree that the signing person has a legitimate status, and according to the constitution of Ukraine, Zelnski is not – he continued.

The head of Russian diplomacy stated that Ukraine “has the right to exist, provided that he released people she recognized as terrorists, who, as part of referendums in Novorossia, in Donbas, decided in the Crimea that they belonged to Russian culture.”

He added that the security guarantee must be a consensus that will take into account Moscow's interests. He accused the West that he wanted to send “intervention, occupation forces” to the territory of Ukraine, which are against Russia.

When asked about the recent Russian attack on the American factory in Ukraine, he replied that he had not heard of it. He repeated that Russia never attacks goals that are not related to Ukraine's military abilities. Answering the question about attacks on civil objects, he told the journalist to present evidence and criticize her questions, calling them “primitive”. He accused the Ukrainians that they were attacking civilian objects.

He assured that Russia wants peace and does not care about the territory. “We care about people,” he added, assessing that Europeans do not want peace.

From Washington Natalia Dziurdzińska (PAP)

NDD/ MMS/