🎙 Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s statement and answers to media questions following at the ambassadorial roundtable discussion to settle the situation around Ukraine (Moscow, April 4, 2024)

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Zelensky's 'peace formula'

• This scheme is widely known and it is effectively an ultimatum that forces Russia to surrender, capitulate, and retreat to the borders of 1991. Recently, Mr Zelensky “kindly suggested” that “we start” with the borders as of February 2022. It doesn’t hurt to dream of things.

• We stand for our truth and the interests of our people <...>. If they want to reach a fair, realistic deal and strike a balance between us in terms of our security interests, we are ready to move in this direction any moment. But for that, we do not need a foundation or a liner of any kind such as the Zelensky formula, no matter how you describe it, in order to move from stating the readiness to launch talks to actually starting the negotiation.

Regarding the West's cynical attitude towards Ukraine

• What the West has been saying about Ukraine and putting its bets on defeating Russia is also quite telling. In his interview with CNN, EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell said: “We cannot afford Russia to win this war. Otherwise, the US and European interests will be very damaged. It’s not a matter of generosity alone, it’s not a matter of supporting Ukraine because we love Ukrainian people. It is in our own interests and it is also in the interests of the US as a global player <...>».

👉 Europe recognised that it has no aspirations and all it wants is for the United States not to lose its dominant role in global affairs, no matter the cost.

The situation in the Gaza Strip

• We reiterated our position where we condemned the terrorist attack of October 7, 2023 and the untenable methods Israel is using now. In fact, Tel Aviv has resorted to collective punishment of the Palestinian people.