Lavrov Vows Russia Will Meet Ukraine War Goals
(MENAFN) Russia will pursue its war aims in Ukraine no matter what becomes of the agreements struck at the 2024 US-Russia summit in Alaska, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov declared Friday, striking a defiant tone even as Washington signals the deal may be dead.
Lavrov made the remarks on the sidelines of a Shanghai Cooperation Organization foreign ministers' meeting in Kyrgyzstan. He insisted Moscow still favors reaching a political and diplomatic resolution to the conflict—but warned the Kremlin will secure its objectives "under any circumstances."
The statement lands just days after US Secretary of State Marco Rubio declared that the peace proposals hammered out at the Alaska summit had collapsed.
According to Lavrov, Russia had already signed off on what he called a US-brokered compromise, and he pushed back on any suggestion that Moscow bears blame for the deal's unraveling. He said American officials had personally guaranteed that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy was ready to move forward with the steps needed to reach a settlement.
Russia, for its part, has held up its end of the bargain, Lavrov maintained, declaring flatly: "our conscience is clear."
He further suggested that Washington's posture on ending the war has shifted, pointing directly to Rubio's latest comments as evidence.
To bolster his case, Lavrov cited remarks from French President Emmanuel Macron, who said there was "no longer any Anchorage" or lingering understandings from the summit, as well as Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha, who put it more bluntly: "We have buried the Anchorage agreements."
"If these are assessments that the Americans share, then what can we do?" Lavrov asked. "Of course, we have repeatedly stated that we prefer a political and diplomatic settlement, but we will achieve our goals under any circumstances."
The comments follow a face-to-face meeting Thursday between Lavrov and Rubio in Manila, held on the margins of an ASEAN summit and related diplomatic gatherings. Their roughly 37-minute conversation—the first between the two since last September—touched on broader US-Russia relations in addition to the war.
Ending the conflict in Ukraine, now grinding into its fifth year since Russia launched what it terms its "special military operation" in February 2022, remained the central focus of the talks.
Lavrov made the remarks on the sidelines of a Shanghai Cooperation Organization foreign ministers' meeting in Kyrgyzstan. He insisted Moscow still favors reaching a political and diplomatic resolution to the conflict—but warned the Kremlin will secure its objectives "under any circumstances."
The statement lands just days after US Secretary of State Marco Rubio declared that the peace proposals hammered out at the Alaska summit had collapsed.
According to Lavrov, Russia had already signed off on what he called a US-brokered compromise, and he pushed back on any suggestion that Moscow bears blame for the deal's unraveling. He said American officials had personally guaranteed that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy was ready to move forward with the steps needed to reach a settlement.
Russia, for its part, has held up its end of the bargain, Lavrov maintained, declaring flatly: "our conscience is clear."
He further suggested that Washington's posture on ending the war has shifted, pointing directly to Rubio's latest comments as evidence.
To bolster his case, Lavrov cited remarks from French President Emmanuel Macron, who said there was "no longer any Anchorage" or lingering understandings from the summit, as well as Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha, who put it more bluntly: "We have buried the Anchorage agreements."
"If these are assessments that the Americans share, then what can we do?" Lavrov asked. "Of course, we have repeatedly stated that we prefer a political and diplomatic settlement, but we will achieve our goals under any circumstances."
The comments follow a face-to-face meeting Thursday between Lavrov and Rubio in Manila, held on the margins of an ASEAN summit and related diplomatic gatherings. Their roughly 37-minute conversation—the first between the two since last September—touched on broader US-Russia relations in addition to the war.
Ending the conflict in Ukraine, now grinding into its fifth year since Russia launched what it terms its "special military operation" in February 2022, remained the central focus of the talks.
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