Ukraine's conditions for talks 'deliberately unrealistic, inadequate,' says Russia

By Elena Teslova

MOSCOW (AA) - Ukraine's conditions for peace talks are deliberately "unrealistic and inadequate," Russia's foreign minister said on Tuesday.

At a news conference at the G-20 Summit in Indonesia, Sergey Lavrov said Moscow confirms its willingness to hold peace negotiations with Kyiv.

"If anyone refuses, it's Ukraine. And the longer it refuses, the more difficult it will be to negotiate," Lavrov said.

The top diplomat added that he spoke briefly to French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz on the sidelines of the summit in Bali on this issue, pointing out that a recent law Ukraine adopted to prohibit peace talks with Russia's current leadership remained in force.

"I reminded (Macron and Scholz) that all the problems are on the Ukrainian side, which categorically refuses to hold any negotiations and puts forward conditions that are deliberately unrealistic and inadequate in this situation," Lavrov said.

The "belligerent, aggressive, Russophobic" speech by Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at the G-20 event shows that he does not hear the West's calls for peace talks, he added.

Lavrov also met with UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, with whom he spoke about the implementation of Istanbul grain deal.

According to Lavrov, the UN chief confirmed that the deal was a priority issue and that the US and EU made written promises to the organization to remove barriers to the export of Russian food and fertilizer.

"Today, the secretary-general spoke about the promises that the US and the EU have given him, including on paper. If they are implemented, then the obstacles to the export of our fertilizers and grain will be removed. But, it is not about the papers, but how they will be implemented in practice," Lavrov stressed.

In his discussion with Guterres, Lavrov also underlined the need for the UN to "clearly follow a balanced and unbiased line" and asserted the "unacceptability of receiving instructions from any state" regarding acute global problems, primarily in the context of the situation in and around Ukraine, the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a separate statement.

On a sought-after extension to the Black Sea grain deal, Lavrov said Russia's condition for doing so would be the implementation of its parts on Russian food and fertilizer exports.

Lavrov said he also discussed the grain deal and preparations for the G-20 final declaration with his Turkish counterpart Mevlut Cavusoglu.

He accused the West of attempting to politicize the declaration by including in it a condemnation of Russia on behalf of the whole group.

However, it was decided that the West would add a phrase that "many delegations condemned Russia," while Moscow recorded that there were "alternative opinions."

"We believe that this is quite enough not to delve deeply into this issue. This is not the matter of the Group of Twenty (G-20) at all," he said.

As for Russia's participation in the summit, its delegation urged refrain from politicization, the lifting of any discrimination in the energy sector, and the opening of dialogue between energy producers and consumers, he said.

Moscow also proposed the creation of an effective control mechanism for international military biological programs and refrain from monopolization of pharmaceutical markets, he said.