A senior diplomat from Moscow has stated that Russia is not prepared to agree to a meeting between President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
“Putin is open to meeting Zelensky, but only when there’s an agenda ready for the summit, and that agenda isn’t ready at all,” Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said in an interview with NBC News’ Kristen Welker.
The interview will be featured on NBC’s “Meet the Press” this Sunday.
Lavrov’s remarks pertain to efforts for a potential peace agreement to resolve the ongoing war in Ukraine, which has persisted since February 2022, shortly after former President Trump’s meeting with Putin in Alaska.
This week, Trump met with Zelensky and European leaders at the White House. They had discussions with Putin via phone about moving forward with negotiations, agreeing to seek a bilateral meeting between Zelensky and Putin, followed by a trilateral meeting that would involve the U.S. president.
“President Putin made it clear that he’d be willing to meet, provided there’s a genuine agenda for it,” Lavrov noted to Welker in the interview clip. “President Trump suggested after Anchorage we be flexible with these matters.”
“When Trump raised these topics at a conference in Washington, it became evident that some principles needed to be accepted by Washington, including NATO membership and discussions about territorial issues.”
Russia maintains that, as part of any peace agreement, Ukraine must not pursue NATO membership and must relinquish territory gained by Russia during the prolonged conflict. In contrast, Zelensky resists these terms, asserting that the Ukrainian constitution prohibits giving up land and calling for security measures like joining military alliances.
On Thursday, Zelensky suggested that Russia seems hesitant to meet.
“They appear reluctant to end this war,” he stated on platform X, adding, “They continue their extensive assaults on Ukraine and fierce attacks along the frontline.”
