Russia is ready to negotiate but Ukraine doesn't want any talks, says Sergey Lavrov

Calling Lavrov's comments at the Raisina Dialogue as 'False and Propaganda', Ukrainian Charge d'Affaires Ivan Konovalov said that the speech shouldn't be pronounced by the Minister.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on Friday sought to know why everyone was questioning lack of Russia's initiative to negotiate but not Ukraine's.

"Everyone's asking when Russia is ready to negotiate. Nobody asks (Ukraine President Volodymyr) Zelenskyy when he's going to negotiate. Last year, Zelenskyy signed a document making it a criminal offence to negotiate with Russia as long as (Russian President Vladimir) Putin is present. Can you ask him what he's doing?" Lavrov was quoted as saying by news agency ANI.

Lavrov said that the world must ask Ukraine and US as to which side of the operation is unwilling to adopt diplomatic means.

"The world must know that Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky in September last year signed a document making any kind of negotiation with Russia a criminal offence as long as Vladimir Putin is present," Lavrov reiterated.

He further asked why no questions were asked to United States about what is happening in Iraq and Afghanistan and whether they are certain of what US is doing.

Lavrov said US President Joe Biden and NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg have publicly stated that Russia must be defeated on the battlefield. ''They say Russia must suffer a strategic defeat and this they say is existentialist for the west in the context of global domination. This is a blunt admission,'' he said.

Referring to the G20 Foreign Ministers' Meeting on Thursday, the Russian minister said the western leaders had raised the Ukraine issue, but wondered whether previous declarations of the grouping ever discussed the situation in Iraq, Libya, Afghanistan or Yugoslavia. ''Nobody was giving a damn about anything but finances and macroeconomic policies which the G20 was formed for... when Russia has started to defend itself, there is nothing except Ukraine that is of interest to the G20,'' he said.

''It is a shame. If they say it is existentialist for them, it is existentialist for us,'' he said, adding that Moscow had been warning the West for decades against the expansion of NATO and pushing arms into Ukraine to prepare them for war against Russia.

Lavrov said the countries in Europe were not affected by what Russia was doing in Ukraine, but by the reaction of the West on Moscow's actions in the region after ample warnings.

''They do not remember when Serbia was bombed. Joe Biden, a senator at that time, bragged that he promoted that approach. When Iraq was ruined as a state, a few years later Tony Blair said it was a mistake. You think the United States has the right to declare a threat just like they did to other countries, but no one questions it for that,'' the minister added.

Talking about Russia's relations with India and China, Lavrov said that he had good relations with both countries.

"We have excellent relations with China and India. The relations with India are characterized in offical documents signed by the two leaders as a "specially privileged strategic partnership". I don't know whether any other country has the same status on paper offcially," he said.

"We are interested in these two (India-China) great nations to be friends. It was the initiative of my predecessor to create trioka of Russia, China and India which culminated in the BRICS formation. My feeling is that the more they meet, the better," Lavrov told ANI.

Calling Lavrov's comments at the Raisina Dialogue as 'False and Propaganda', Ukrainian Charge d'Affaires Ivan Konovalov said that the speech shouldn't be pronounced by the Minister.

"False and propaganda. I have nothing to say after listening to the speech. This speech shouldn't be pronounced by the Minister": Ukrainian Charge d'Affaires Ivan Konovalov (in the right pic) to ANI.

The Russia-Ukraine conflict is complex, with both sides having their own narratives and grievances. Russia claims it is supporting ethnic Russians in eastern Ukraine who are being persecuted by the Ukrainian government, while Ukraine sees Russia as an aggressor trying to destabilize the country.