If Western countries hope to help Ukraine to a battlefield victory against Russia, then there is probably no point in negotiations said Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Friday, shortly before leaving a G20 summit early, transmits MIA.
If the EU and the US want to help Ukraine win on the ground “then we probably have nothing to discuss with the West,” said Lavrov at his closing remarks at the summit on the Indonesian island of Bali.
International alignments and relations are very much in focus at the summit, since so many Western foreign ministers have refused to conduct one-on-one talks with Lavrov while there, to protest Russia’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine. Russia argues that it attacked to save ethnic Russians from attack in Ukraine and also to “de-Nazify” its neighbour, both charges that have been widely derided in the West.
But, on Friday, Lavrov accused Western powers of urging Ukraine “to use their weapons” and slammed Western countries for painting Russia to be an “aggressor” or “occupier” in the conflict without assessing the facts on the ground. He also criticized the Western sanctions that have been laid on Russia since the invasion began in February. Lavrov said he had come to the G20 summit to get an impression of “how the West was breathing.”
Lavrov did say that Russia was prepared to enter into talks with Ukraine and Turkey to find a way to allow Ukraine to export its grain supplies. Ukraine is a key wheat supplier for many parts of the world. But, due to the war and blockades of its ports, most of that wheat is not getting out, causing worldwide problems.
Additionally, Ukrainian forces have mined the port of Odessa – which is still under Ukrainian control – to hinder any Russian attack there. Lavrov said Ukraine should remove the mines and allow free transit and said Russia and Turkey were prepared to provide security for Ukrainian shipments in international waters, so that they could reach the Mediterranean.
He also slammed Western sanctions, saying the problem with worldwide food supplies was not a result of Ukrainian supplies drying up, but because international sanctions are keeping the Russian wheat harvest bottled up.
