Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov commented on the statements of Rubio and Trump on the withdrawal from the Russian-Ukrainian negotiation process if there are no quick results on the air of the American CBS News program Face the Nation.
"We understand, we understand the impatience, because in- in American culture, you create expectations, and you ignite tension around those expectations. This does not help to do realpolitik. But in our case, as I said, we are always ready for dialogue, ready for negotiations, and we would not, you know, begin by banking on a failure. This would be a characteristic of bad deal makers, inexperienced deal makers," Lavrov said.
Lavrov did not directly answer the journalist's question about what compromises Moscow is ready to offer, but he called the claims that Russia does not actually want to make concessions unfounded.
"I have been emphasizing repeatedly, in relation to Ukraine, in relation to strategic relations with the United States, I have been emphasizing our readiness to seek balance of interests. If- if this is not what your station considers readiness for negotiations, then I don't know how to be even less eloquent in trying to be brief in my answers," Lavrov said.
Lavrov noted that Russia has agreed to a ceasefire without conditions, but “we want guarantees that the ceasefire will not be used again to strengthen the Ukrainian army, and that the supply of weapons must be stopped.”
In response to Trump’s call to stop strikes on civilian targets in Ukraine, Lavrov stressed: “We will continue to strike targets used by the Ukrainian army, mercenaries and instructors from other countries.”
When asked whether Moscow was ready to hand over control of the Ukrainian Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, which is currently under Russian control and, according to the press, is one of the points of the peace plan proposed by Washington, the Russian Foreign Minister replied:
"No, we never received such an offer and if we do, we will explain that the power station, Zaporizhzhia power nuclear power station is run by the Russian Federation state corporation called Rosatom. It is being under monitoring of the IAEA personnel permanently located on the site. And if not for the Ukrainian regular attempts to attack the station and to create a nuclear disaster for Europe and for Ukraine as well, the safety requirements are fully implemented and it is in very good hands."
