Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov on Sunday accused Western nations of deliberately obstructing peace negotiations to end the conflict in Ukraine, even as diplomatic momentum appeared to falter.“They’re just looking for a pretext to block negotiations,” Lavrov said in an interview with state broadcaster Rossiya, clips of which were released on Telegram.The remarks come as US President Donald Trump has pushed for a bilateral meeting between Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Russian President Vladimir Putin. While Trump has promoted the initiative, Moscow and Kyiv have exchanged blame over why such a meeting has not materialized.Lavrov criticised Zelenskyy for “obstinately insisting, setting conditions, demanding an immediate meeting at all costs” with Putin. He further accused Kyiv of “attempts to disrupt the process that was laid down by Presidents Putin and Trump, which has yielded very good results.”On Friday, Lavrov told reporters that “no meeting” between Putin and Zelenskyy was currently planned. Zelenskyy, however, accused Moscow of trying to “wriggle out” of holding direct talks, while maintaining that Ukraine would only agree once its allies secure binding security guarantees to prevent future Russian aggression.Moscow has dismissed such conditions, insisting that no discussion of security guarantees is possible without Russia’s participation, and calling the potential deployment of European troops in Ukraine “absolutely unacceptable.”The war, now stretching into its third year, continues to test diplomatic channels as both sides trade accusations over who is preventing dialogue.
