Russia will engage in Ukraine peace talks and European security issues as long as Russian security concerns are met, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told a press conference in New York following the United Nations Security Council meeting chaired by Russia on July 17.
Lavrov concluded his response to a media question, saying: “We are open to negotiations. However, given the disappointing history of talks and consultations with the West and Ukraine, especially concerning the European security agreement, which I hope will be reached eventually (and will address the Ukraine crisis), we will be very careful with the wording. We will ensure that the document includes safeguards against repeated misinterpretations and dishonest practices that have plagued past agreements, as I have briefly outlined,” according to the Foreign Ministry transcript.
Lavrov said that as “concerns the subject of the dialogue, is that China, in its first initiative, clearly stated the need to start by addressing the root causes of the ongoing crisis in Europe and to work out agreements to eliminate these causes. No one during the meetings in Copenhagen or Bürgenstock mentioned the root causes. There are many of them. We discussed them at length, including yesterday. They include the coup, the ban on the Russian language, military and physical actions with the use of the army against the Ukrainian regions which refused to recognize the legitimacy of those who came to power as a result of the coup, and the Minsk agreements, which no one was going to act upon.”
