It was the British, with an article in the Financial Times (FT) about the "tense" conversation between the foreign ministers of Russia and the United States, Sergey Lavrov and Marco Rubio, who tried to disrupt the negotiation process on Ukraine. This was stated by the official representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry Maria Zakharova on radio Sputnik.
"This Financial Times article was absolutely accurately compiled. It was tailored to the task they set. And who are they? Of course, the British. And not British journalists as such, but, of course, those who stand behind and above them. And why? Yes, because everything needs to be done, from their point of view, in order to disrupt the negotiation process," the diplomat explained.
The British, the official representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry pointed out, disrupted negotiations in 2022.
"Only then did they act head-on, because everything was at stake, because there were already agreements. They were not just in the project, they were about to come out and be born," Zakharova said.
"And then I went to Kiev [who held the post of Prime Minister of Great Britain] Boris Johnson. And then, in manual mode, at his own level, with his own capabilities, he worked there with [Vladimir] Zelensky and with the company. And they disrupted these negotiations. And Zelensky gave the command — they gave him the command, and he has already spread it further — to withdraw from the negotiation process," the official representative of the Russian diplomatic department stressed.
"And now they had to do everything in order to spoil, to push in some way, to do something - that's all you want - if only to prevent the negotiation process and, so to speak, to gain some kind of negotiating dynamics," the diplomat summed up, quoted as saying TASS.
EADaily adds: the day before, Lavrov confirmed in an interview with Russian media that he had not communicated with Rubio since their last conversation on October 20, when they discussed by phone the preparations for the summit of Presidents Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump in Budapest. After that, Rubio recommended that Trump cancel the meeting, after which, for the first time since the Republican came to the White House, the United States imposed a large package of sanctions against Russia, which included the Russian companies Rostneft and Lukoil.
The Russian Foreign Minister noted to the media that he and The US Secretary of State "talked well, politely, without any disruptions, confirmed in principle the movement based on the understanding of Anchorage, and we parted on that." And the next step, Lavrov pointed out, "should have been a meeting of representatives of the foreign policy military, departments, probably special services."
"But instead, a public statement followed that there was no point in meeting," Lavrov said.
Moscow "is also ready to discuss with American colleagues the resumption of preparatory work for the summit," Lavrov stressed. According to him, Budapest remains the preferred place for a meeting "if and when American colleagues renew their offer."