At his Sept. 28 afternoon press conference, Sergei Lavrov was questioned about the previous day’s meeting of former U.S. President Donald Trump with Ukraine’s martial law chief Volodymyr Zelensky, and whether the Russian government put hope in Trump’s plan to end the war over Ukraine. “We will be very pleased with any resolution of the crisis,” Lavrov said, but insisted on “the root causes”: NATO’s expansion and NATO’s seeking security for its members at the expense of security of the Russian Federation (NATO, he said, planned to establish a military base in Crimea); and second, human rights—"The Russian language was destroyed in Ukraine, at all educational levels. We are not talking about [trading] territory, we are talking about people,” he said. “If Mr. Trump can bring about an end to those laws, that will be welcomed.”
Later in the same event, the “Friends of Peace” initiative of 13 nations led by China and Brazil was brought up: “Will Russia consider a peace plan from the Global South?” Lavrov’s response was, again, “Tackle the root causes” of the war.” These were, he said, NATO’s attempt to bring in Ukraine; and human rights, the “obliteration of Russian culture and language,” and the shut-down of the Russian Orthodox Church in Ukraine.
As to the “Friends of Peace” initiative itself, Lavrov said “We have discussed their plans. I am interested in the specific implementation. No one has told me what that is.”
