Russia would continue war during negotiations with Ukraine, Lavrov says
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Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov commented on the possibility of a meeting between Zelenskyy and Putin. (Photo: Sergei Ilnitsky/Pool via REUTERS)
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov called Russia’s invitation
to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to visit Moscow a “huge gesture
of goodwill,” even though Moscow has no intention of halting the war during
possible negotiations.
Lavrov made the remarks to Interfax on Sept. 12.
Commenting on Zelenskyy’s proposal to meet Putin in the
United States, Lavrov said an invitation to Moscow had already been extended
and that if the Ukrainian president wants to meet, he should come.
Lavrov portrayed the invitation as a “huge gesture of
goodwill” by Russia, arguing that Zelenskyy has still not rescinded a decree
banning contacts with Putin and his team, while portraying the Kremlin as
willing to show goodwill.
The possibility of a meeting between the presidents also
came up in other Kremlin comments that day. Putin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov
said Moscow was ready to receive Zelenskyy in the capital if he was genuinely
prepared to negotiate with the Russian president.
Putin’s aide Yuri Ushakov said Putin’s participation in the
G20 summit was not currently being discussed.
Prospects for a Zelenskyy-Putin meeting
The Group of 20 leaders’ summit in Miami is scheduled for
Dec. 14–15, 2026. It remains unclear whether Russia will participate. U.S.
President Donald Trump said on Sept. 2 that he had
not yet decided whether to invite Putin to the G20 summit, which Putin has
not attended since 2019. The same day, Trump said Putin
would agree to meet with him again, but said he wanted such a meeting only
“when a peace deal is reached.”
Zelenskyy has repeatedly expressed
readiness for a face-to-face meeting with Putin, while the Kremlin has
rejected talks at the leaders’ level and said a
meeting with Zelenskyy could take place only in Moscow.
On Aug. 24, Zelenskyy said Kyiv, together with Trump’s
representatives and European officials, had developed
a new joint plan to end the war that calls for a ceasefire, mutual troop
withdrawals from the front line and the creation of a buffer zone. The next
day, it emerged that CIA Director John Ratcliffe had secretly
arrived in Moscow. The Wall Street Journal reported that he may have brought
Putin a warning amid intelligence that Russia was preparing a mobilization
and could test NATO’s resolve.
On Aug. 31, U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent met
with Russia’s finance minister on the sidelines of the G20 summit to
discuss Trump’s peace plan for Ukraine.
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