Berliner Tageblatt - Russia says discussing Ukraine security guarantees without Moscow 'road to nowhere'

NATO military chiefs were set Wednesday to discuss the details of eventual security guarantees for Ukraine amid efforts to broker an end to Russia's offensive.

But Lavrov warned that "seriously discussing security guarantees without the Russian Federation is a utopia, a road to nowhere.

"We cannot agree that it is now suggested to solve collective security issues without the Russian Federation," he told reporters.

President Vladimir Putin ordered Russian troops into Ukraine on February 24, 2022 and the ensuing conflict has killed tens of thousands of people and forced millions to flee their homes.

US President Donald Trump, who spoke Monday with his Russian counterpart, said Putin had agreed to meet Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and accept some Western security guarantees for Ukraine.

Lavrov said in their phone call Putin had only told Trump he would "think about raising the level of" talks on Ukraine.

Lavrov said any summit between Putin and Zelensky "must be prepared in the most meticulous way" so the meeting does not lead to a "deterioration" of the situation around the conflict.

Lavrov also accused European leaders -- some of whom also visited the White House on Monday -- of making "clumsy attempts" to change the US president's position on Ukraine.

"We have only seen aggressive escalation of the situation and rather clumsy attempts to change the position of the US president," he said, referring to Monday's meeting.

"We did not hear any constructive ideas from the Europeans there," Lavrov added.

Lavrov also said the West's "confrontational position, a position to continue the war, does not find understanding in the current US administration, which... seeks to help eliminate the root causes of the conflict".

Post-war security is a key concern for Ukraine after more than three years of Russian offensive.

Moscow has long said it will not tolerate Kyiv joining NATO and has been hostile to the idea of Western troops being deployed to the war-torn country.

M.Furrer--BTB