LAVROV - Zelensky's formula is a game and nothing else

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Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s statement and answers to media questions following talks with Yemeni Minister of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates Shaya al-Zindani, Moscow, August 27, 2024.

Question: On an earlier occasion, President Zelensky stated in an interview with Indian media that he would like to hold the second summit on peaceful settlement in Ukraine in a country from the Global South. Would Russia participate in it if it were indeed held in a Global South country?

Sergey Lavrov: The next summit implies continuing an initiative of sorts, but there is only one “initiative” there. It started out as the “Copenhagen format” and morphed into the “Burgenstock conference.” However, all these processes rely on an absolutely bleak non-starter “peace formula” proposed by Zelensky. Only dreamers in Kiev and the West can expect Russia to fall for any of the functions promoting this “formula” as the only viable solution.

It is about a game, nothing else. They want to put us in a situation where we jump at something that Zelensky finds suitable. President Putin has repeatedly said that negotiations where no one imposes ultimatums on anyone are the way forward.

It was the case in February 2014, when Viktor Yanukovich, then President of Ukraine, came to terms with the opposition (under the guarantees provided by France, Germany, and Poland) to create a government of national unity and hold nationwide elections. The next day, this honest deal was shattered by the opposition incited by the United States and other Western countries, which instantly recognised the results of the bloody unconstitutional coup. Had they fulfilled this agreement, Ukraine would now be within the 1991 borders, including Crimea.

That was followed by an agreement in Minsk in February 2015 that was approved by the UN Security Council. You know how the President of Ukraine Petr Poroshenko, former Chancellor of Germany Angela Merkel and then French President Francois Hollande admitted that none of them intended to comply with the UN Security Council resolution. They needed to gain some time. Honest talks were held in Minsk, where presidents and the chancellor discussed and negotiated things for long 17 hours. It was a balance of interests, but they chose not to act on it. Now it’s clear why.

By the same token, in Istanbul, they refused to fulfill the initialed agreement, because neither putschists in February 2014, nor Petr Poroshenko in February 2015, nor Vladimir Zelensky in April 2022 needed an honest agreement. All they needed was a piece of paper with an ultimatum on it.

Not all Ukrainians are naive. They were fully aware of the fact that an ultimatum these days, especially with Russia, is an utterly senseless proposition. However, the calculus relied on the Anglo-Saxons and all kinds of Borrells in Brussels, Ursula von der Leyens and Macrons from Paris telling them in unison that Ukraine must defeat Russia on the battlefield, and they were doing their best to make it happen. That is, the West is deterring Ukraine from engaging in regular talks based on the universally accepted principles and is doing everything to have Ukraine continue the escalation (as they call it) in hopes, we are getting increasingly suspicious of that, that we will lose our cool and do something that will allow the West to “change the chessboard.” It won’t work.

We will fulfil our goals and do so just like President Putin said, in a way that will meet our interests in the best way: first, save our people and, second, protect the people whom the Nazi regime in Kiev declared terrorists and deprived them of basic rights, including the right to their own religion, faith, language, and much more. They will not be able to provoke us. All these “burgenstocks” and “peace formulas” are the work of the devil.

If the West (this is not about Zelensky) is truly interested in normalising the situation in Europe, which is making the Europeans themselves groan and suffer, we should sit down for talks without clutching pieces of paper that read “Zelensky’s formula” and start having candid talks. The President of Russia confirmed that we were ready for this. I just cited three examples of us supporting such talks. Now that they have lied three times, who will trust them? But let’s see. They must draw their own conclusions.