Russian foreign minister reveals Moscow’s demands for next round of talks with Ukraine

Sergei Lavrov. Photo: BelTA, a Belarusian state-owned news outlet

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has said that in the next round of negotiations with Ukraine, the date of which will be announced shortly, Russia will insist on the repeal of discriminatory laws restricting the Russian language and on Ukraine’s non-aligned and non-nuclear status.

Source: RIA Novosti and Interfax, Kremlin-aligned Russian news outlets 

Quote from Lavrov: “At these talks on 16 May in Istanbul, we insisted on the repeal of these discriminatory laws [restricting the Russian language – Interfax], and we will continue to do so in the next round of direct talks, which we will announce in the near future.”

Advertisement:

Details: Lavrov said that one of the conditions for ending the war for the Kremlin is also “the neutral, non-aligned, non-nuclear status of Ukraine”.

“I have said many times that the trigger for the conflict [the war unleashed by the Russian Federation – ed.] in Ukraine and, more broadly, the deep security crisis in Europe was precisely NATO’s aggressive expansion eastward over many years,” he said.

Background:

• On 16 May, trilateral talks between delegations from Ukraine, the United States and Türkiye took place in Istanbul. On the same day, a meeting between delegations from Ukraine and Russia occurred with the participation of Türkiye, marking the first direct talks between Kyiv and Moscow since 2022.
• Keith Kellogg, President Donald Trump’s special envoy for Ukraine, said on Fox News that the United States had received a list of conditions from Kyiv for ending the war and was now waiting for a similar list from Russia.

Support Ukrainska Pravda on Patreon!