Lavrov said that France offered Russia negotiations on Ukraine without Kyiv's participation

Lavrov said that France offered Russia negotiations on Ukraine without Kyiv's participation Anastasia Bezeiko

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said that France had repeatedly offered Russia negotiations on the war without Ukraine's participation. According to him, this was done through closed channels.

For its part, Moscow expressed its readiness to listen to Paris's proposals. Lavrov said this in an interview with Russian and foreign media, reports 24 Channel.

Moscow is skeptical about France's initiatives

According to the Russian minister, France has repeatedly approached Russia through closed channels with a proposal to organize a dialogue on Ukraine without Kyiv's participation. This contradicted the West's stated principle of “not a word about Ukraine without Ukraine.”

Our French colleagues have such a desire to play a proactive role in a variety of issues, and we welcome this. But what the result of such initiatives is, and how sincere the desire to play a positive role is, I do not know, Lavrov said.

He noted that in parallel with the proposals for dialogue, France is initiating the presence of peacekeeping troops in Ukraine and is training Ukrainian military personnel on its territory.

It is precisely this contradictory position, according to the minister, that does not contribute to Moscow's serious attitude to the initiatives of the French side.

It is known that several countries are already considering the possibility of sending a contingent of Western allies to Ukraine, as proposed by the French president. However, the discussion is still at an early stage.

The day before, Volodymyr Zelensky and Emmanuel Macron met in Brussels, where they discussed important issues for strengthening Ukraine's position in the fight against Russian aggression. The Ukrainian president thanked France for preparing a brigade for the Ukrainian army, the leaders of the countries agreed to continue this cooperation.

They also discussed Macron's initiative regarding the presence of forces in Ukraine for stabilization, the French president shared information about his communication with other partners.