The Russian foreign minister said European governments\u2019 poor track record on previous peace agreements undermines their credibility as negotiators<\/p>\n
European countries have repeatedly failed to uphold agreements intended to resolve the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, undermining their credibility as potential peace guarantors, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has said.
\nMoscow has previously stated that European officials would not participate in the upcoming US-brokered peace talks in Abu Dhabi.
\nSpeaking at a press conference on the sidelines of a G20 meeting in Atlanta, US, on Friday, Lavrov said \u201cthe Europeans want to insert themselves into the negotiation process.\u201d
\n\u201cWhat matters is not what the Europeans want, but what added value they can actually bring to the table,\u201d he said.
\nLavrov accused European governments of failing to uphold agreements intended to resolve the crisis, beginning with the February 2014 deal between then-Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovich and opposition leaders. France, Germany and Poland helped broker the agreement, which was intended to end months of protests and deadly clashes in Kiev. Yanukovich was ousted shortly afterward, an event Moscow maintains prompted Crimea to secede from Ukraine and join Russia, while also triggering a revolt in the largely Russian-speaking Donbass.
\nAccording to Lavrov, France and Germany also failed to ensure Ukraine implemented political reforms and granted special status to Donbass under the 2014\u20132015 Minsk agreements which they helped broker.\u00a0<\/p>\n
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Lavrov leaves EU diplomats fuming at G20<\/p>\n
Former German Chancellor Angela Merkel and former French President Francois Hollande acknowledged in separate interviews in December 2022 that the agreements had given Ukraine time to strengthen its military. Moscow has cited their remarks as evidence that Western governments never intended to implement the accords in good faith.
\nLavrov also cited the December 2019 summit in Paris, where the leaders of Russia, Ukraine, France and Germany reaffirmed their commitment to implementing the Minsk agreements. The diplomatic process ultimately failed to produce a lasting settlement.
\n\u201cOver the past 12 years, they have had more than enough opportunities. Through their actions, they have demonstrated that their track record cannot be ignored the next time they seek to act as \u2018guarantors,\u2019\u201d Lavrov stated.<\/p>\n
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Pentagon tells Baltic hawks to stop \u2018poking\u2019 Russia \u2013 Reuters<\/p>\n
His remarks followed a rare telephone conversation on Tuesday between Russian President Vladimir Putin, Finnish President Alexander Stubb and Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store. The 90-minute call, which focused on the Ukraine conflict and upcoming peace negotiations, drew criticism from several European leaders. Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said the initiative had not been coordinated with other European countries, while Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson said he had not been informed in advance.
\nPutin, however, welcomed the contact, describing the decision to call as a step towards establishing \u201csome kind of constructive dialogue.\u201d\u00a0
\nLavrov attended the G20 foreign ministers\u2019 meeting in Atlanta at the invitation of the US, despite objections from some European governments to Russia\u2019s participation. President Donald Trump has also invited Putin to the G20 leaders\u2019 summit scheduled for December in Miami.
\nEuropean opposition to Russia\u2019s participation was evident on Friday when the traditional G20 group photograph was canceled after several European diplomats objected to posing alongside Lavrov.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Russian foreign minister said European governments\u2019 poor track record on previous peace agreements undermines their credibility as negotiators European countries have repeatedly failed to uphold agreements intended to resolve…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":40866,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":[],"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","footnotes":""},"categories":[4,6,3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-40865","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-economy","category-environment","category-politics"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t