MOSCOW: Russia’s top diplomat warned Thursday that prospective negotiations to end the fighting in Ukraine could be successful only if they take Moscow’s interests into account, dismissing a planned round of peace talks as a Western ruse to rally broader international support for Kyiv.
Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov charged that Ukraine’s Western allies are currently involved in a massive diplomatic blitz to persuade as many countries of the Global South as possible to join a meeting in Switzerland to discuss a potential peace plan.
Speaking to reporters after a meeting with about 70 foreign ambassadors to Moscow, Lavrov argued that the West is seeking to boost attendance at the planned round of negotiations in Switzerland by claiming that its participants would be free to discuss only certain aspects of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s peace plan, such as ways to ensure global food security.
Lavrov described such arguments as a Western ploy to attract more hesitant countries of the Global South and draw up to 140 participants in order to cast the conference as a show of overwhelming support around the world for Ukraine.
He emphasized that any peace talks would be a “useless waste of time” if they did not take Moscow’s interests into account.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has repeatedly said that he sent troops into Ukraine in February 2022 to protect Russian interests and prevent Ukraine from posing a major security threat to Russia by joining NATO. Kyiv and its allies have denounced Russia’s military campaign as an unprovoked act of aggression.
Lavrov reaffirmed Moscow’s dismissal of Zelensky’s peace formula that requires Russia to pull back its troops, pay compensation to Ukraine and face an international tribunal for its action.
He stated that any prospective peace deal must respect Russia’s security interests and recognize the “new realities,” a reference to Moscow’s territorial gains.
“We are defending our truth, the interests of our people in the territories which have been founded by their ancestors who lived there for centuries,” Lavrov said. “If they are willing to talk on the basis of justice, on the balance of the realities and the balance of security interests, we are ready for it at any time.”
Russian minister casts prospective Ukraine peace talks as Western plot to win hesitant Global South
https://arab.news/m3wrd
Russian minister casts prospective Ukraine peace talks as Western plot to win hesitant Global South
- Lavrov argued that the West is seeking to boost attendance at the planned round of negotiations in Switzerland
- He emphasized that any peace talks would be a “useless waste of time” if they did not take Moscow’s interests into account
Kremlin welcomes US sanctions waiver, says US and Russia share interest in stable energy markets
- US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent announced on Thursday a temporary authorization allowing countries around the world to purchase Russian oil
DUBAI: Russia sees a US sanctions waiver on its oil as an attempt by Washington to stabilize global energy markets, and the two countries have a shared interest in this, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Friday.
“We see actions by the United States aimed at trying to stabilize energy markets. In this respect, our interests coincide,” Peskov said.
US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent announced on Thursday a temporary authorization which allows countries around the world to purchase Russian oil currently stranded at sea, extending a measure that had previously been granted only to Indian refiners.
Bessent stressed in a post on X that the authorization would not provide significant financial benefit to the Russian government.
He said: “This narrowly tailored, short-term measure applies only to oil already in transit and will not provide significant financial benefit to the Russian government, which derives the majority of its energy revenue from taxes assessed at the point of extraction.”
However, the move has met with a mixed reaction in European capitals, with many fearing it could aid Russia’s assault on Ukraine.
“I am concerned that we are further filling Putin’s war chest,” German Economy Minister Katherina Reiche said in Berlin on Friday.
Reiche added that she saw both sides to the US’ decision to issue a 30-day waiver for the purchase of Russian oil products, and understood the increasing economic and political strife caused by the oil crisis.
“It seems to me that domestic political pressure in the United States is very, very high,” Reiche said.
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz was more direct, saying on Friday that it was wrong to ease sanctions on Russia for any reason. The sentiment was echoed by Norway’s Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store, who said sanctions should not be eased.
Oil prices held gains above $100 on Friday and most equity markets dropped after Iran’s leader called for the blocking of the Strait of Hormuz and the opening up of new fronts in the war against the US and Israel.
With the conflict heading toward its third week and showing no sign of ending, investors are growing increasingly worried about an extended crisis that could fan inflation and hammer the global economy.
