Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, in remarks at a press conference in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, dismissed the notion of “territorial swaps” as part of a potential settlement of the war with Ukraine—because that’s not what it’s about. “You should understand that it is not about the meeting location and participants, but about issues to be discussed. Meeting to talk about calls for a ceasefire and then territorial exchanges simply doesn’t cut it. Once again, the problem is not about territories but people’s rights, which have been flouted – and all of the political initiatives floating around fail to mention them,” he said, reported the Foreign Ministry. “We are protecting people. Everyone who expresses interest, one way or another, in facilitating a settlement should be aware of it and to make it their core activity,” said Lavrov.
At the same time, the top diplomat pointed out that it is easy to agree on the place and time of the negotiations on Ukraine, but first it is necessary to understand what will be discussed. “As soon as we see the determination to protect human rights, a policy that the West always boasts about when addressing any issue (except this particular one), I am confident we will easily agree on the location and time of the meeting. But first we need to understand what exactly we are going to discuss,” Lavrov emphasized.
Lavrov also dismissed Zelenskyy’s so-called peace plan. “As for various [peace] ‘initiatives,’ one of these that has been put forward by Volodymyr Zelenskyy is well known and sets one’s teeth on edge. It is an ultimatum pure and simple. The fact that the West sticks to it means just one thing: they do not want to make honest agreements and seek to have Russia come closer to a situation, where they will be able to declare that we have suffered a ‘strategic defeat’ on the battlefield,” he said.