Europeans Negotiate the Conflict Behind Ukraine's Back: Lavrov

On Friday, Russian Foreign Affairs Minister Sergey Lavrov stated that several European leaders have attempted over the past six months to negotiate with Moscow regarding the Ukrainian conflict without involving Kiev.

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"Certain well-known Western leaders, particularly one, through three different channels, have sent signals for us to meet and discuss what to do about Ukraine and European security," he said during a press conference alongside his Belarusian counterpart, Sergey Aleinik.

Lavrov, who stated he neither wanted nor had the right to "mention names," described this situation as an act of hypocrisy and cunning.

Western politicians "have five Fridays every week and lie shamelessly. When they declared and continue to declare by inertia that they will not negotiate anything about Ukraine without Ukraine, this is nothing but hypocrisy," he noted.

The Russian diplomat indicated that the contacts were not direct leader-to-leader, despite politicians having "direct access" to their Moscow counterparts. "But these are the tricks we have observed over the last six months," he added.

"If someone is interested in ending attempts to ensure their security at the expense of others' security, ending attempts to restrict Russia's legitimate interests and the legitimate interests of Russians living in many countries on our continent, then welcome. We are always ready to seriously discuss these issues," Lavrov affirmed.

However, he ruled out Moscow being willing to negotiate with those who condition future contacts on Russia's defeat in Ukraine.

Russia has declared multiple times that it is open to negotiations with Ukraine and blames Kiev for rejecting dialogue under the decree of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, prohibiting any dialogue with President Vladimir Putin.

Lavrov also accuses the West, particularly the United Kingdom, of persuading Zelensky to reject the Istanbul Agreements reached between Russia and Ukraine in April 2022.