Lavrov reveals conditions for Putin’s meeting with Zelensky
Lavrov reveals conditions for Putin’s meeting with Zelensky
2025-08-21 06:42
Shafaq News – Moscow
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov confirmed on Thursday that his country’s President Vladimir Putin is ready to meet with Vladimir Zelensky, but that intensive preparatory work by experts and ministers must precede this meeting.
Lavrov added, during a press conference following his talks with Indian Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, that President Putin has repeatedly stated his readiness to meet, including with Zelensky, but only if all issues requiring consideration at the highest level are fully understood and studied. For these issues to be properly resolved, they must be preceded by careful preparation by experts and ministers, with appropriate recommendations drawn up.
Lavrov continued, “It must be understood that when it comes to, I hope, signing future agreements, the issue of the legitimacy of the person signing these agreements on the Ukrainian side must first be resolved.”
Lavrov recalled that Zelensky has yet to rescind his three-year-old decree directly prohibiting negotiations with the Russian president.
“Zelensky’s efforts to organize a summit with the Russian president are clearly aimed at demonstrating his alleged constructive pursuit of a settlement process, but in reality, he is trying to replace the hard and difficult work of coordinating principles for a permanent solution to the crisis with theatrical performances similar to those he performed in the university theater and in the Kvartal 95 theater group before taking power,” he said.
On August 19, Trump said that all decisions regarding resolving the conflict in Ukraine should be made by Putin and Zelenskyy, because the United States is too far removed from the theater of hostilities.
“I had a very successful meeting with President Putin,” Trump said during an interview with American journalist Mark Levin. “I also had a very successful meeting with President Zelensky. I thought it would be better if they met without me to figure it out. I want to figure out how it’s going to play out. They’re setting it up (for a possible meeting), and we’ll see what happens.”
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