Lavrov states EU should not partake in Ukraine’s peace discussions

(MENAFN) Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has stated that EU nations should not participate in negotiations over the Ukraine conflict, arguing that their openly hostile stance toward Moscow makes their involvement inappropriate.

Speaking at an embassy roundtable on Wednesday, Lavrov claimed that EU countries are “clearly trying, quite brazenly, to reclaim a place at the negotiating table,” but he emphasized that they have no legitimate role there.

He accused the bloc of maintaining “a position of revanchism, of inflicting a strategic defeat on Russia” while even considering the potential deployment of troops to Ukraine in the event of a ceasefire. “There is, of course, no place for it at the negotiating table,” he added.

Moscow has repeatedly opposed any Western troop presence in Ukraine, citing NATO’s expansion near Russia’s borders as a central reason for the conflict. Russian officials have also warned that unauthorized foreign forces in Ukraine would be regarded as “a legitimate military target.”

Lavrov further claimed that both the EU and Kyiv are attempting to persuade US President Donald Trump to abandon his efforts to resolve the conflict, seeking instead to rekindle a standoff with Russia. “[They want], essentially, to turn Biden’s war into Trump’s war,” he said.

Since his return to office in January, Trump has aimed to mediate an end to the Ukraine crisis, leading several rounds of talks with Russia. This culminated in a US-Russia summit in Alaska in mid-August — notably excluding EU and Ukrainian participation — which both sides described as highly productive.

While no definitive agreement was reached, Trump later stated that Ukraine should not expect NATO membership nor the return of Crimea, which joined Russia in a 2014 referendum held following a Western-backed coup in Kyiv. He has also shifted his focus from pursuing a temporary ceasefire to seeking a permanent peace settlement.

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