Western leaders have been calling conferences on Ukraine in an attempt to drum up support for Kiev’s war effort and allow it to remain relevant, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said.
"The number of conferences called by the West will, of course, rise now. Their goal is to compensate for a sharp drop in attention and their capacity to support Zelensky’s regime financially," Lavrov told reporters after hosting Yemeni Prime Minister Ahmed Awad bin Mubarak in Moscow.
The Paris conference ended without a consensus on French President Emmanuel Macron’s proposal to send troops to Ukraine to fight alongside the Ukrainian army, although Macron did not rule out putting French boots on the ground.
Commenting on Macron’s remarks, Lavrov said that not much had ever come out of the Paris meetings.
"The French and President Macron are in general over-enthusiastic about hosting various events, while taking little interest in whether anything comes out of them. There is no need to give any special consideration to conferences convened in Paris," the diplomat said.
Western countries, including member states of the European Union, have been providing military and financial aid to Kiev since the start of Russia's special military operation in Ukraine in February 2022. The Kremlin has consistently warned against continued arms deliveries to Kiev, saying it would lead to further escalation of the conflict.