MOSCOW: Russia said on Wednesday attempts to resolve security issues relating to Ukraine without Moscow’s participation were a “road to nowhere,” sounding a warning to the West as it scrambles to work out guarantees for Kyiv’s future protection.
Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov particularly criticized the role of European leaders who met US President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky at the White House on Monday to discuss security guarantees for Ukraine that could help end the three-and-a-half-year-old war.
“We cannot agree with the fact that now it is proposed to resolve questions of security, collective security, without the Russian Federation. This will not work,” Lavrov told a joint press conference after meeting Jordan’s foreign minister.
US and European military planners have begun exploring post-conflict security guarantees for Ukraine, US officials and sources told Reuters on Tuesday. Lavrov said such discussions without Russia were pointless.
“I am sure that in the West and above all in the United States they understand perfectly well that seriously discussing security issues without the Russian Federation is a utopia, it’s a road to nowhere.”
