West Shows Unwillingness for Peace Talks by Continuing Arms Supplies to Ukraine: Russian FM Lavrov

18:44, 18 May 2024

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - Earlier, Russia's Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said that the goal of the upcoming Ukraine peace conference in Switzerland was to formulate ultimatums to Russia.

Sputnik

The West is not showing its readiness for a "serious conversation" on peace, which is reflected in their calls to supply Kiev with more weapons, allowing strikes on the Russian territory, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Saturday.

"When the West persists in imposing [Ukrainian President Volodymyr] Zelensky's formula, when it at the same time increases supplies of more and more long-range weapons to the Kiev regime, we read this as a signal that the West is not ready for a serious conversation and that they have chosen to settle relations on the battlefield. We are ready for this, and we have always been ready for this," Lavrov said at the 32nd Assembly of the Council on Foreign and Defense Policy.

He added that Russia watches Western think tanks "exercising scenarios to inflict maximum damage on us," calling for the supply "of more and more weapons to Kiev," to allow "strikes on any part of Russia's territory" or "that it is up to Kiev to decide," including US Secretary of State Antony Blinken's recent statements.

"A line has been taken to restore the number and combat readiness of the armies of European countries, to transfer the military-industrial complexes of NATO countries to wartime mode and to start working, on the contours of the formation of a European military alliance with a nuclear component," the minister said.

Western countries have been providing massive military and financial aid to Kiev since the start of Russia's 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.

In April 2022, Russia sent a diplomatic note to all NATO countries on the issue of arms supplies to Ukraine. Lavrov warned that any cargo containing weapons for Ukraine would become a legitimate target for Russia.