Russia says agenda ‘not ready at all’ for Putin-Zelensky summit
Sign up now: Get ST's newsletters delivered to your inbox
Ukrainian servicemen taking part in military exercises in Ukraine on Aug 11.
PHOTO: REUTERS
Follow topic:
- Lavrov states a Putin-Zelensky summit needs a proper agenda, which is currently lacking due to Zelensky's unwillingness to negotiate.
- Russia claims Zelensky rejects key negotiation points, including NATO membership, territorial issues, and Russian language rights, hindering potential talks.
- Putin seeks Ukraine to cede Donbas, renounce NATO, remain neutral, and reject Western troops, while Zelensky refuses to "gift" territory.
AI generated
MOSCOW - Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said there is no agenda for a potential summit between Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky, accusing Mr Zelensky of saying “no to everything”.
Speaking to NBC's Meet The Press with Kristen Welker, Mr Lavrov said Mr Putin had made clear he was ready to meet Mr Zelensky to discuss a possible deal to end the war in Ukraine provided there was a proper agenda for such a session, something he said was lacking for now.
Both Russia and Ukraine are trying to show Donald Trump that they are ready to try to strike a peace deal, something the US leader has said he wants to broker, while accusing the other of not being sincere or ready to negotiate in good faith.
“Putin is ready to meet with Zelensky when the agenda would be ready for a summit. And this agenda is not ready at all,” Mr Lavrov told NBC, saying no meeting was therefore planned for now.
Mr Lavrov said Russia had agreed to show flexibility on a number of issues
“He (Trump) clearly indicated - it was very clear to everybody that there are several principles which Washington believes must be accepted, including no Nato membership (for Ukraine), including the discussion of territorial issues, and Zelensky said no to everything,” said Mr Lavrov.
“He even said no to, as I said, to cancelling legislation banning the Russian language. How can we meet with a person who is pretending to be a leader?”
Mr Trump had imposed an Aug 8 deadline for Mr Putin to agree an end to the war or face new sanctions against Russia and countries that buy its oil, but instead agreed to meet the Kremlin leader at a summit in Alaska
Since then, Russia has shown little movement,
Mr Putin wants Ukraine to give up all of the eastern Donbas region, renounce ambitions to join Nato, remain neutral and keep Western troops out of the country, three sources familiar with top-level Kremlin thinking have told Reuters.
Mr Zelensky, who has said he does not want to “gift” Russia any territory, said on Aug 22 the Kremlin was doing everything it could to make sure that a meeting between him and Mr Putin did not take place. He called on Ukraine’s allies to apply fresh sanctions on Moscow if it showed no desire to end the war. REUTERS
