Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov gave a pointed response Thursday to a media question on Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s assertion that the August 2025 Anchorage proposals have failed. Lavrov argued on the sidelines of the SCO foreign ministers’ meeting that Moscow had accepted that U.S. initiative, but Kiev and its European backers undermined it from the start.
“First,” Lavrov said, “we need to…understand who exactly failed.”
Lavrov outlined Russia’s view that accepting the US proposal in Anchorage, which had been put forward in advance and approved by President Donald Trump, set the stage for a full-scale settlement discussion, even though the proposal itself “inevitably contain[ed] an element of compromise.” The content of the understanding was not detailed by Lavrov today, but its provisions have been implicit in many subsequent remarks by Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov and presidential aide Yuri Ushakov: Kiev would withdraw its forces from the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics ("the Donbass"), but not the Zaporozhye and Kherson Regions; a ceasefire would go into effect there and on other segments of the front line. These steps would be followed by negotiations on all other issues involved. But, the Donbass withdrawal never happened.
Lavrov noted that Trump spent several days after the summit speaking positively about the talks, saying nearly everything had been settled. Lavrov said he handed Rubio a transcript of Trump’s own post-summit remarks during their meeting Thursday on the sidelines of the ASEAN meeting in Manila.
Reviewing the sabotaging behavior of the EU and Ukraine, Lavrov then pointed to French President Macron’s public statement that the Anchorage understandings were finished and that America had returned to Ukraine’s side, along with Ukrainian Acting Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiha’s remark that the agreements had been “buried.”
“If the Americans share these assessments,” said Lavrov, “what can we do about it?... Naturally, we favor a political and diplomatic settlement. However, we will achieve our objectives no matter what.”
He also detailed some of the effects of continued Western arms flows to Kyiv, including drones, intelligence support, and Starlink connectivity, saying that Ukraine’s rejection of the U.S. proposals came even as it kept receiving substantial American military and technical backing. Lavrov had earlier told media he would raise this reality with Rubio at the Thursday meeting. Not mentioned by Lavrov is that Rubio himself, talking July 8 to reporters side-by-side with Trump and Ukraine’s acting President Volodymyr Zelensky on the sidelines of the Ankara NATO summit, had welcomed the current long-range strikes into Russia, which he said he hoped would “create the space now to negotiate the end of this war.”
Lavrov didn’t completely shut the door, however: “To reiterate,” Lavrov remarked, “our conscience is clear. As the saying goes, a man’s word is his bond. We said we were ready, and we remain ready. The other side, however, appears to have modified its position, judging by…Rubio’s remarks. However, the objectives set by President Vladimir Putin in June 2024…will be achieved.”
