Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov discussed the situation in Ukraine with Saudi Foreign Minister Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud.
"We certainly addressed the situation in and around Ukraine. We are grateful to our Saudi friends for a balanced position and for their sincere interest in helping to advance along the path to a political settlement," the Russian foreign minister said Thursday at a press conference following talks with his Saudi counterpart in Moscow.
"So far, as you know, this path is blocked by the decisions of [Ukrainian President Vladimir] Zelensky himself and the position of Western countries, which are firmly in favor of inflicting a strategic defeat on Russia on the battlefield before proceeding to negotiations," Lavrov continued.
The Russian foreign minister also noted that the Russian side has informed diplomats from Saudi Arabia about the latest developments in the context of the special military operation and about maintaining principled approaches to this topic.
"Serious talk on the settlement"
Russia sees no desire of the Ukrainian side to start a serious conversation on the settlement, Lavrov said.
"So far, we do not see any desire from our Ukrainian neighbors to start a serious conversation. Moreover, I have already mentioned more than once that [Ukrainian President Vladimir] Zelensky banned any negotiations [with Russia] by his decree last September, and Zelensky's Western masters keep saying that Russia must first be defeated on the battlefield in order to talk to it from a position of strength. Judge for yourself how adequate such statements are," Lavrov said.
The minister stressed that Russia welcomed Saudi Arabia's interest in helping to resolve the current situation as soon as possible in the context of Russia's legitimate demands, which remained unanswered for many years after the illegal anti-constitutional coup d'etat in Ukraine.
GSV "Russia - Islamic World"
Photo: Alexander Shcherbak / TASS
Based on materials from TASS