Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. EPA-EFE/TATYANA MAKEYEVA/POOL
There is no role for Europe at the negotiating table to end the war in Ukraine, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told a press conference on Monday as he confirmed he would fly to the Saudi Arabian capital Riyadh on Tuesday to meet representatives of US President Donald Trump’s negotiating team.
Suggesting that the Europeans would simply “try to wangle some crafty idea intended to freeze the conflict” that would in fact allow the war to drag on, Lavrov asked simply “then what’s the point of inviting them?”in comments released by the Russian Foreign Ministry.
Lavrov also said there would be no question of making territorial concessions to Ukraine, whatever the outcome of the negotiations, doubling down on Kremlin propaganda claims that the Ukrainian government has “Nazi tendencies” and accusing the Ukrainian army of behaving “even worse than Hitler’s murderers”.
Speaking at the Munich Security Conference on Saturday, Trump’s special envoy for Ukraine and Russia, Keith Kellogg, said that he did not envisage Europe’s presence at peace talks, demonstrating a growing divide between the US and Europe.
Lavrov’s comments come amid already rising tensions between the US and Europe over what appears to be Trump’s attempt to sideline his European allies ahead of eventual Ukrainian peace negotiations, and on the day a hastily convened emergency meeting between European leaders was due to take place in Paris to discuss the issue.
