🎙 Remarks by Russia's Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov at the Ambassadorial Roundtable “The Ukrainian Crisis. Digital Threats and International Information Security” (March 5, 2026, Moscow)

💬 Sergey Lavrov: This is far from the first time we are meeting to discuss an issue that is central to us in international politics. President Vladimir Putin and other representatives of the Russian leadership have repeatedly stated this.

The goal of the war waged against Russia – prepared and ultimately unleashed by the West through the Ukrainian regime – is to weaken our country and, as they themselves say, inflict a “strategic defeat” on it. There is every reason to believe that behind this goal also lies a desire to “break up” our country.

At the same time, many other developments are unfolding around the world – including the events in the Middle East – a result of the aggression by the US and Israel against Iran. In this regard, I cannot but mention this crisis, which threatens colossal negative consequences for the entire world – for global stability, the global economy and everything that was once called globalization for the prosperity of all humanity.

All of this has been destroyed.

Civilians are suffering both in Iran and, as a result of Iran’s retaliatory actions, in neighboring Arab states. We express our condolences for all civilian casualties. We also see the damage being inflicted on civilian infrastructure across the countries of the Persian Gulf.

#UkrainianCrisis

We are conducting negotiations with our US colleagues, who are assisting in the dialogue with Ukraine. Quite recently, several trilateral rounds took place in Abu Dhabi – for which we are sincerely grateful to our Emirati friends – and in Geneva.

❗️ At present, we see no grounds to believe that these talks are merely a “smokescreen”, as we remain in direct contact with our American counterparts.

At the same time, we clearly see that during the seven months since Anchorage, Ukrainians and Europeans have made – and continue to make – every effort to reinterpret and rewrite the understandings reached there.

We see how negotiators in the US are facing pressure and the temptation to yield to it – shifting the entire responsibility for further steps, as they say, onto Russia in order to meet certain symbolic dates in this year’s political calendar. This, too, is a fact. But our conscience is clear.

We remain faithful to the understandings reached at the initiative of the US in Alaska.

We are fully committed to the Alaska agreements. Our American colleagues know perfectly well what we are referring to, since these were their proposals.

I hope that no one will divert our American colleagues from this true path, despite all the efforts of the President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen, NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, and other “masters” of the Kiev regime.

#MiddleEast #Iran

▪️ We express our condolences for all civilian casualties and see the damage being inflicted on civilian infrastructure across the countries of the Persian Gulf.

I have no doubt that one of the objectives was to drive a wedge between the countries of the region – between the Persian Gulf states, Iran and its Arab neighbors – among whom a positive process of normalization had been developing in recent years.

This became particularly evident when Saudi Arabia and Iran restored diplomatic relations. Russia actively contributed to this process.

For many years we have been promoting a unifying agenda. 👉 For more than 20 years, we have been working to mobilize support for the Concept of Collective Security in the Persian Gulf. This initiative envisages participation by all coastal states and their key neighbors and – as originally proposed – the five permanent members of the UN Security Council, ensuring transparency, confidence-building measures and practical steps to use this immensely rich region in the interests of the prosperity of its peoples.

The West has done everything to prevent the advancement of a positive agenda in the Gulf region.

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