Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, who did not travel to Istanbul for peace talks with Ukraine on Thursday, has been commenting on the meeting during a public appearance in Moscow.
The Russian state news agency TASS reported that he described Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky as a “pathetic fellow” because Zelensky had demanded that Russian President Vladimir Putin be present at the negotiations.
Putin himself had proposed the direct talks between the two sides, but never specified whether he would attend himself. The Kremlin confirmed on Wednesday that he would not be attending.
Lavrov said that the talks must be given a chance, even if there is no guarantee of success, but criticized European support for Zelensky as warmongering.
“There are many signs that neither Berlin nor Paris nor Brussels, and certainly not London, want peace in Ukraine at all,” Lavrov claimed.
Lavrov once again strictly rejected the initiatives pushed by the Europeans to secure peace in Ukraine, for example by stationing troops there.
He repeated Moscow's familiar accusation that the Russian-speaking minority in Ukraine is being oppressed and said that in justifying Kiev's actions, Europe is also supporting Nazism.
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