Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov had an interview with 60 Minutes on December 25, 2024 and was asked about the Ukraine war and potential deals to end it. Here’s some of what he said: – Fiorella In Moscow

 Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov had an interview with 60 Minutes on December 25, 2024 and was asked about the Ukraine war and potential deals to end it. Here’s some of what he said:

Lavrov: We have not had any illusions about the prospects of 2025. Resolving the Ukraine crisis doesn’t have any prospects, either. It has long been clear to everyone holding unbiased positions that it can be settled only in the context of agreements on lasting security and stability in Europe, which would take into account the interests of the Russian Federation and the legitimate interests of all other countries.

Everyone thinks the arrival of the Trump Administration will change things. There is much speculation about this going on.

As I earlier mentioned, we have no illusions. There is a fairly robust bipartisan consensus in Washington on supporting the Kiev regime. US doctrinal documents describe our country as an adversary that needs to be “strategically defeated.” In free speeches, the Biden administration officials have even called us an enemy.
We have never claimed that with the Trump Administration in the White House the negotiating process on global security and Ukraine will begin no matter what. This will not be, as many are now hoping, an inevitable outcome.

We hear about Donald Trump’s interest, who appointed Keith Kellogg as his special envoy for Ukraine, in stopping this war as soon as possible. We have always been in favour of it never beginning which fact is corroborated by our support for the document signed by Yanukovich and the opposition in February 2014. It was guaranteed by European countries, but the opposition tore it up the next morning.

We also supported the Minsk agreements, which stopped the Kiev regime’s terrorist attack against its citizens in Donbass.


🚨President Putin has repeatedly stressed that we never walk away from talks. We need to see serious, concrete proposals. When we have them, we will decide on how to respond to them based on our national interests, the goals of the special military operation, and President Vladimir Putin’s June 14 speech at the Foreign Ministry…the demand to fulfill what has been repeatedly agreed upon over many years: militarisation of Ukraine (which is a direct violation of the agreements that NATO will not “gobble up” an increasing number of countries to the east and approach directly the border of the Russian Federation), and respect for the obligations under the UN Charter, including with regard to human rights, language and religious rights among them…The West wants to remove any competitor. With regard to us, Ukraine has been chosen as a tool to this end.

More key points:

🚨The prevailing discourse we are hearing both in the West and in Ukraine today is about a truce and only truce. It is about buying time to allow the Kiev regime to regain strength, with the help of the West, and resume its attempts to inflict a strategic defeat on Russia, acting on their Western bosses’ instructions.

🚨President Vladimir Putin has mentioned this repeatedly – during the Direct Line, at the Valdai Discussion Club meeting, and at the Russia Calling! investment forum. We will not be satisfied with a truce. We need reliable and legally binding agreements aimed at eliminating the root causes of the conflict, addressing problems such as common security in Europe, NATO expansion, the European Union’s recent decision to become an appendage of the North Atlantic bloc, in fact, erasing all differences between these organisations, and above all, upholding the rights of the people living in these territories who have supported reunification with the Russian Federation.

🚨We have never initiated a discussion regarding what should be done with nuclear weapons and whether they can be used.

This article originally appeared on Fiorella In Moscow

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