What regime does Lavrov want in Kiev for Moscow to accept international security guarantees for Ukraine
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov holds the year-end press conference at the headquarters of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Moscow on January 20, 2026. PHOTO: TATYANA MAKEYEVA / AFP / Profimedia
Russia will only accept international security guarantees for a “friendly” Ukraine with Moscow, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Thursday, according to German news agency DPA.
The Russian government does not know what the US and Ukraine agreed on security guarantees, Lavrov said in an intervention in Moscow, quoted by Interfax.
But “if the goal is to preserve the (current) regime in part of the territory of the former Ukraine so that this regime can then be used as a bridgehead for threats against Russia, then … such guarantees will hardly ensure lasting peace,” Sergey Lavrov said.
Moscow, the foreign minister added, is open to collective security agreements in the region that include Russia's security.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has said that an agreement on US security guarantees for his country is close to being finalized. Lavrov referred in particular to the comments of US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, notes Agerpres.
In Washington, Rubio said on Wednesday that there is a US side to the safeguards deal, but added that it all depends on how Russia reacts. In any case, the head of US diplomacy said that the security guarantees could only apply after the fighting stops.
Rubio highlighted in Senate hearings the US government's concerns about the security guarantees, which provide for the deployment of European troops. But since the Europeans are too weak, a strong support from the United States is needed. Or, this means that “we would potentially have obligations in a future conflict”, explained the head of American diplomacy.
negotiations
In rounds of negotiations since November, the US, Ukraine and European countries have developed an idea of what a post-war settlement might look like. Moscow was kept in the loop by American negotiators.
Meanwhile, the fighting continues at full intensity on the front. Late last week, with US mediation, representatives of Ukraine and Russia spoke directly for the first time in a long time.
A second round, this time without the USA, would take place on Sunday also in Abu Dhabi (in the United Arab Emirates). Some international news agencies have reported that the US will still be present at these negotiations.
Donbas
In Kiev, the deputy head of the presidential administration Pavel Palisa said that Russian troops have been given a new deadline for the full occupation of Donbas (composed of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions), according to the Unian publication.
“The plans of the Russian occupiers have not changed and now their goal is to reach the administrative border of the Donbas region by the end of March, the beginning of April,” Palisa said, adding that this is a new term that adds to many others in this regard.
“Personally, I don't see any possibility for Russia to achieve this goal,” said the representative of the presidential administration in Kiev, indicating that Russia wants to create buffer zones in Kharkiv and Sumy regions (northeast), as well as Dnipropetrovsk (center).
