Sergey Lavrov (ANI image)
Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov on Thursday said that President Vladimir Putin is willing to meet Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, provided that all matters related to resolving the conflict between Moscow and Kiev are fully resolved.Speaking to RT, Lavrov stated, “The Russian president repeatedly said that he is ready to meet, including with Zelenskyy, if there is an understanding that all issues that require consideration at the highest level have been worked out thoroughly” by experts and ministers.” Following recent discussions with both leaders, US President Donald Trump suggested that Putin and Zelenskyy should hold a one-on-one meeting before a potential trilateral summit involving him. Zelenskyy, who visited Washington on Monday, has expressed his willingness to negotiate directly with Putin.Lavrov said that Zelenskyy is pushing for a swift meeting with Putin to maintain international attention. He added that the Ukrainian leader previously rejected any direct talks with Putin, signing a decree in 2022 that banned such negotiations, which has not yet been revoked.”Clearly, his activity in relation to staging a summit with the Russian leader also has a goal of displaying his supposedly constructive focus on the settlement process, but in reality, it is simply about replacing the serious, hard, difficult work on agreeing the principles of a sustainable resolution of the crisis… with special effects and tricks in the style of KVN and Kvartal 95,” Lavrov said, referring Zelenskyy’s past career as comedian. Kremlin aide Yury Ushakov said that during a phone call on Monday, Putin and Trump supported continuing direct talks between Russia and Ukraine, which resumed in Istanbul in May. They also discussed the possibility of involving higher-level officials in the negotiations.
