Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said in an interview with the American television channel NBC that the Kremlin does not accept the initiatives proposed by the United States to establish peace in Ukraine. At the same time, as analysts at the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) note, these statements only mask Moscow's unwillingness to compromise or participate in negotiations according to the timetable proposed by US President Donald Trump.
Lavrov stressed that the Russian side has repeatedly explained its military goals both in meetings with US representatives and publicly. ISW analysts emphasize: this proves that the Kremlin does not change its demands and once again repeats the theses about the "threat from NATO expansion" and "violation of the rights of Russian-speakers in Ukraine.".
In addition, the Russian Foreign Minister once again tried to shift the blame for the breakdown of the talks onto Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. He said that the Ukrainian leader “will not solve the Kremlin’s problems,” twisting his words about refusing to discuss the territorial issues. In essence, Lavrov made it clear that Zelensky’s meeting with Putin would not take place unless Kyiv agreed to conditions that amounted to Ukraine’s political and cultural capitulation.
Lavrov also repeated the usual theses about the alleged “illegitimacy” of Zelensky, trying to use the impossibility of holding elections during the war to discredit the Ukrainian government in the eyes of the international community. ISW emphasizes: the Kremlin is purposefully promoting this rhetoric in the American information space in order to sway US public opinion in its favor.
Separately, the head of the Russian Foreign Ministry commented on the topic of security guarantees for Ukraine. He stated that Russia does not claim the right of veto, but considers it necessary to have a “consensus taking into account its interests”. ISW warns: the Kremlin is trying to hide the fact of violating the Budapest Memorandum in 2014 and 2022 and achieve the status of a “guarantor” in the new agreement. This, according to analysts, will actually weaken Ukraine’s defense capabilities and allow Russia to block its future alliances.
