Speaking to the media on December 26, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov emphasized that if the US is really serious, Washington must be the one to give the signal first.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov
“If the signals from the new US team to restore dialogue, which has been interrupted since the Ukrainian special military operation, are serious, of course we will respond,” Reuters quoted him as saying. Lavrov.
Previously, speaking at the AmericaFest 2024 conference taking place on December 22, US President-elect Donald Trump expressed his determination to resolve the war between Russia and Ukraine, and announced that he was waiting for negotiations with the Russian President. Vladimir Putin. The US President-elect also wants to meet Mr. Putin as soon as possible.
Regarding Ukraine, Mr. Lavrov reiterated that Russian President Vladimir Putin has repeatedly expressed Moscow’s openness to holding negotiations on how to resolve the conflict. Mr. Lavrov added that Russia hopes Mr. Trump’s team will “resolve the root cause of the conflict.”
However, Russia’s top diplomatic official noted that the country will only participate in negotiations if they are “meaningful” and take into account the underlying causes of the conflict as well as the principles that President Putin released earlier this year. In November, President Putin emphasized that Russia was ready to discuss a ceasefire agreement in Ukraine with Trump, but ruled out making any major territorial concessions and asked Kyiv to abandon its ambitions to join. NATO.
Mr. Lavrov said that a ceasefire in Ukraine would lead nowhere. “We need final legal agreements that address all conditions that ensure Russia’s security and, of course, the legitimate security interests of neighboring countries,” he said.
