MOSCOW: Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov accused Western countries on Sunday of trying to “block” peace negotiations to end the Ukraine conflict, after a flurry of diplomatic activity appeared to stall.
US President Donald Trump has been championing a bilateral meeting between the Ukrainian and Russian presidents — but both sides have blamed each other for not wanting the talks to come through.
“They’re just looking for a pretext to block negotiations,” Lavrov said in an interview with state TV station Rossiya aired Sunday on Telegram.
He slammed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky for “obstinately insisting, setting conditions, demanding an immediate meeting at all costs” with Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin.
Lavrov also accused Ukrainian authorities of “attempts to disrupt the process that was laid down by Presidents Putin and Trump, which has yielded very good results.”
