Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Friday there was “no meeting planned” between the Russian and Ukrainian presidents, despite U.S. attempts to organise the summit.
“There is no meeting planned,” Lavrov said in an interview with NBC’s “Meet the Press with Kristen Welker”.
U.S. President Donald Trump raised expectations for a swift summit between the leaders by saying they have both agreed to meet after he received President Volodymyr Zelensky with European allies in the White House.
Lavrov told the U.S. broadcaster that Russian President Vladimir Putin was “ready to meet Zelensky when the agenda would be ready for a summit,” adding that it was “not ready at all”.
Lavrov earlier this week slammed the White House meeting as a “clumsy” attempt by Europeans to change the U.S. leader’s position on Ukraine, agreeing with Putin at a summit in Alaska last week.
And on Friday, he dashed hopes for a Putin-Zelensky meeting to resolve the conflict now in its fourth year, by questioning the Ukrainian president’s legitimacy and repeating Russia’s maximalist claims.
“There are several principles which Washington believes must be accepted, including no NATO membership, including the discussion of territorial issues, and Zelensky said no to everything,” according to Lavrov.
AFP