Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told an interviewer with VGTRK broadcasting company, according to TASS, that the Ukraine war cannot be halted along the current line of contact because a lasting solution is required. “That will not be an option. We need to stop only once there is a long-term, reliable and sustainable settlement,” he said, adding that to do so would “erase the feat of our fathers and grandfathers” who defeated Nazism. “This cannot be considered. It is not about anyone’s comfort today. Our people are suffering and dying in these terrorist attacks. It is about our responsibility for Russia’s thousand-year history,” Lavrov insisted.
As for European seizures of Russian commercial vessels on the high seas, Lavrov noted: “They authorised themselves not just to stop and inspect vessels, but even to confiscate their cargo and sell it to generate revenue. This way, these funds can be transferred to Ukraine so that it can continue consolidating its Nazi regime. President Vladimir Putin was very clear when he tactfully said that Russia will respond in kind to this robbery. We will choose the targets as we deem fit by focusing on the ships serving countries which have made pillaging and piracy their official policy.”
Lavrov reiterated President Putin’s willingness to resume meetings with President Trump’s envoys, Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner. “We are not refusing to talk to them. If they come, they know that Russian President Vladimir Putin is ready to meet them again. The question is what they will come with.”
