Asked at his press conference today about the negotiation process with Ukraine, Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov emphasized that “we are seeing an increasingly clear understanding by our partners in the United States of the need to eliminate the root causes of the crisis.”
When President Trump called President Putin to inform him on the results of his White House meeting with Zelenskyy and the seven European leaders, “Putin reiterated Russia’s readiness to continue direct Russian-Ukrainian negotiations, which had previously taken place in Istanbul … not only to resume these talks but also to consider elevating the level of delegation heads,” so as to tackle “the political aspects of settlement.”
“It is clear that the Ukrainian side’s reaction is not within our control,” Lavrov continued. “Nevertheless, given that this idea was received positively by U.S. President Donald Trump, we expect that he will convey and explain it to Kiev representatives, after which we anticipate a response.” This could drive matters forward. Negotiations at an elevated level doesn’t preclude the heads of state, Lavrov stated with precision. “However, when it comes to high-level meetings, they must be meticulously prepared at all preceding stages to ensure summits do not worsen the situation but instead serve as a definitive conclusion to the negotiations we are prepared to continue.”
