During an exchange with reporters at the Valdai Club meeting on Sept. 30, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov commented on the statements made on Sept. 28 by both U.S. Vice President J.D. Vance and U.S. Special Envoy for Ukraine and Russia Keith Kellogg about the U.S. supplying long-range weapons to the Kiev regime. “Does Moscow view this as an act of pressure from the United States on Russia?” a reporter asked Lavrov. “How will the Russian authorities respond diplomatically?”
“I believe this is, first and foremost, a result of pressure from Europe on Washington,” Lavrov replied. “The United States wants to demonstrate that it takes the opinions of its allies into account. I do not think we are dealing with a decision that has already been made. The Americans do not supply Tomahawks to just anyone. If I am not mistaken, among Europeans, only Spain and the Netherlands have received them. They have been somewhat cautious with others. If they consider Ukraine to be a responsible state that will use them responsibly, that would be surprising.”
Maria Zakharova commented separately on Kellogg’s claim that the U.S. was allowing Ukrainian forces to launch deep strikes into Russia. “We understand that he is subordinate to the U.S. President, who has spoken in favor of a peaceful resolution to the situation in Ukraine,” she said, emphasizing that subordinates should follow this course, reported TASS. “The delegation of Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov held negotiations with U.S. Secretary of State [Marco] Rubio in New York on the sidelines of the 80th session of the UNGA, building upon the meeting in Anchorage. All parties confirmed the necessity of finding a peaceful settlement and also spoke about the need to understand the root causes of the conflict,” she remarked.
