Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov assured today that his country is willing to negotiate a settlement in Ukraine if his «absolutely legal demands» are respected.
«If now there is a serious proposal on how to stop this conflict while meeting our absolutely legal demands, of course, we will be ready to talk,» Lavrov told an international forum in the Russian capital.
The head of Russian diplomacy did not explain whether by «absolutely legal demands» he was also referring to the annexation of four Ukrainian regions – Donetsk, Lugansk, Kherson and Zaporizhia – whose territories he does not fully control.
Lavrov stressed that Moscow never lacked «good will» and recalled that in December it sent its demands for security guarantees to the West and in March it held negotiations with Ukraine in Istanbul.
He stressed that some Western leaders such as the Frenchman Emmanuel Macron speak from time to time about the need for negotiations, but always without specifying.
