Russia denies Moscow, Kyiv may hold direct peace talks in Geneva

By Elena Teslova

MOSCOW (AA) - Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov denied Thursday that Moscow and Kyiv may hold direct peace talks in Geneva.

"It is not up to Ukraine to decide when to start talking seriously about realistic conditions for the end of this conflict," he said at a news conference in Moscow.

"It is necessary to talk about the conditions for ending the conflict in Ukraine with the West, but it is not interested in this. They don't want to talk about the settlement at all," he said, noting that all the West has put forward is an idea of a cease-fire "to win some time to rearm Ukraine."

Lavrov argued that the conflict could have been settled several years ago but the West "did not allow it," instead, it pushed Ukraine to "more and more aggressive use of long-range means" to carry out strikes deep into the Russian territory and supplies arms necessary for that purpose.

He criticized Ukraine's military and said it deploys air defense systems in residential areas, using civilians as shields.

"The fact that Ukrainians deploy their armed forces in civilian facilities and install air defense systems in residential areas has long been known. This happened on an ongoing basis. They have such manners to blackmail civilians to make them human shields, which is strictly prohibited by international humanitarian law," he said.

Lavrov said the Russian army is committed to international humanitarian norms and its military "use only high-precision weapons and target only military objects."

Asked about expectations regarding the conflict, Lavrov said the experience of Afghanistan, Iraq and Libya makes him think that Ukraine is doomed to the same fate.

"Where has it become better, where has the very democracy for which all this was started been established? And Ukraine, unfortunately, awaits the same fate," he said.

He noted that the West's rhetoric changed instead of saying it would support Kyiv "as long as necessary," they now say "as long as it is possible."

Lavrov blasted those who say Ukraine fights for democratic values, noting the persecution against political opponents, ethnic groups, religious institutions as well as President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's refusal to hold elections at the end of his term, which expires later this year.

Speaking about the effect on Russia, he said the "special military operation" united the people, while the industry has risen markedly despite the imposed sanctions.

Lavrov also quoted former Czech President Vaclav Klaus who said the conflict in Ukraine started in 2008 when NATO opened its doors to the country, noting that he said the truth.