Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on Friday said that his country was ready to give concessions to Ukraine if its key interests and concerns were respected.
He made these comments after Russia and Ukraine started engaging in direct peace negotiations earlier this year, which ended without any breakthrough. Russian President Vladimir Putin constantly told Ukraine and its Western backers said that, "the sustainable solution is ultimately a compromise. We are ready to pursue negotiations on one condition: that our legitimate interests and security concerns must be taken into consideration.”
Lavrov said, “Russian interests but also the interests of the Russian-speaking population living in Ukraine must be safeguarded.”
While demanding concessions from Ukraine, Lavrov did not specify the range of compromise Russia was willing to consider in peace talks. He condemned the “utterly repulsive laws” Ukraine has gradually adopted since the 2014 Western-backed coup in Kiev, which aim to restrict the use of Russian in public.
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Moscow also cited the "unfair treatment of the Russian-speaking minority" as one of the main causes of the ongoing conflict with Ukraine, besides Ukraine’s ambitions to join NATO and its refusal to recognise the new borders.
However, Ukraine has rejected Russia’s peace terms and wishes to continue fighting against Moscow, despite conceding massive losses and territory. Lavrov praised US President Donald Trump for reviving talks with Russia, which were suspended under his predecessor, Joe Biden.
“Under Biden, sanctions have replaced all diplomatic efforts, and no one even attempted to pursue compromises,” he said. Although a rare Trump-Putin in-person meeting in Alaska last month produced no immediate results, both sides described it as a positive step at the time.
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