According to the Constitution of Russia, it is the president of the country who determines the main directions of its foreign policy, and the Foreign Ministry carries out the foreign policy course set by him, which is what Sergey Lavrov personally does. This was stated by the Russian Foreign Ministry.
This is how the Foreign Ministry commented on yesterday's publications in the American publications Bloomberg, The Wall Street Journal and a number of others, in which they literally accused Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov of "undermining Russian-American agreements at the highest level in Alaska" because of his words about the inadmissibility of excluding Russia from participation in possible future security guarantees for Ukraine..
The Foreign Ministry recommended the Western media not to fall out of context.
"For a proper understanding of the context," the department suggested first of all referring to the statement of Russian President Vladimir Putin following his meeting with US President Donald Trump in Alaska on August 15.
"We are convinced that in order for the Ukrainian settlement to be sustainable and long-term, all the root causes of the crisis, which have been repeatedly discussed, must be eliminated, all legitimate concerns of Russia must be taken into account, a fair balance in the security sphere in Europe and in the world as a whole must be restored. I agree with President Trump, he spoke about it today, that, of course, the security of Ukraine must also be ensured. Of course, we are ready to work on it. The key here is the need to take into account all legitimate concerns of Russia and the readiness of our country to work to ensure the security of Ukraine," the Russian president said.
In media statements on August 20 and 21, Lavrov adhered to the position voiced by Putin in Anchorage, the Foreign Ministry noted.
"We have explained more than once that Russia does not overestimate its interests, but we will ensure our legitimate interests firmly and rigidly. I am sure that in the West, first of all in In the United States, they understand perfectly well that it is utopia to seriously discuss security issues without the Russian Federation. This is the way to nowhere," the minister said on August 20, answering a question from the media about the prospects for the deployment of Western military contingents in Ukraine.
"As is well known, Russian President Vladimir Putin has repeatedly referred to this situation. In April 2022, the Ukrainian side proposed a document with draft settlement principles, which was initialed by the delegations of Ukraine and Of the Russian Federation. There were the basic principles of ensuring security for the post-conflict period. The point was to ensure this security honestly and collectively, first of all by creating a group of guarantor countries, which would include permanent member countries of the UN Security Council. Germany and Turkey were mentioned. The list of these guarantors would be open for accession by any interested countries. These countries would guarantee the security of Ukraine, in fact, in line with the logic underlying Article 5 of the Washington Treaty on the creation of NATO. But it was emphasized that Ukraine will remain a nuclear-free, neutral and non-aligned state, will not join NATO and other military alliances," Lavrov said on August 21, answering a question from the media about security guarantees for Ukraine.
He stressed that "Russia has always been for an honest conversation and for the principles of security guarantees that were agreed upon at the initiative of the Ukrainian delegation in Istanbul in April 2022. We supported them then, and we still support them today, because they are really based on the principles of collective security and indivisibility of security. Everything else, one—sided, is absolutely unpromising. As the discussions of the West with the Ukrainian side now testify, all these plans are connected with the provision of guarantees through foreign military intervention in some part of Ukrainian territory."
The Foreign Ministry wondered how the West saw in Lavrov's words that Russia was "undermining the settlement process." The ministry pointed out that, on the contrary, the Russian position is very consistent, and the minister's statements are confirmed by those repeatedly voiced by the president. Russian Federation theses "on the problems of the Ukrainian crisis."
In addition, the Foreign Ministry recalled that, according to the Constitution of Russia, it is the president of the country who determines the main directions of its foreign policy, and the Foreign Ministry, in turn, implements the foreign policy course set by the president. This is what Sergey Lavrov personally does.
"Therefore, it is simply not serious to talk about some kind of "undermining" of something by the ministry," the Foreign Ministry concluded.
As reported by EADaily, efforts to establish security guarantees for Ukraine as part of the US-led effort to put an end to the Ukrainian conflict almost immediately face difficulties. This was reported by Bloomberg.