In an exclusive interview with NBC’s “Meet the Press” published Sunday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov outlined a number of terms that must be met before Vladimir Putin will agree to meet face-to-face with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Lavrov’s interview brought into focus just how far apart Moscow and Kyiv are on key aspects of the negotiations.
What are Moscow’s terms for an agreement?
Among the terms Lavrov laid out were Ukraine’s commitment to neutrality and a promise not to join NATO. Lavrov also said “the territorial issue must be on the table,” signaling Moscow’s desire to retain control of the portions of Ukraine it currently occupies. All of these terms, Lavrov maintained, the U.S. supports.
In return, Lavrov said that Ukraine could enjoy security guarantees from a number of countries, including Russia itself.
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“As regards the security guarantees for Ukraine, those principles proposed by the Ukrainian delegation…they provided for the creation of a group of guarantors, this group containing permanent members of the Security Council –– Russia, U.S., China, U.K. and France –– plus they mentioned Germany, Turkey and any other country which would be interested to join this group of guarantors,” Lavrov said, referencing an outlined agreement that was presented in Istanbul at the start of the war in 2022. “And the guarantors would be guaranteeing the security of Ukraine, which must be neutral, which must be non-aligned with any military bloc and which must be non-nuclear.”
In addition to Ukraine’s neutrality, Lavrov said Russia’s other non-negotiables are “to remove any security threats to Russia coming from the Ukrainian territory,” and to protect the rights of Ukraine’s ethnic Russian citizens. Russia has long accused Ukraine of committing a cultural genocide against the country’s Russian population, including banning the Russian language, though outside observers largely disagree with the assessment.
Lavrov went so far as to deny that Moscow has any interest in occupying more territory and is instead focused on protecting its citizens who live within Ukraine’s borders.
“Is the only concession Russia is offering not to invade the rest of Ukraine? Is that your concession?” moderator Kristen Welker asked.
“We don’t have any interest in territories. We have the biggest territory on Earth,” Lavrov responded. “What we are concerned about, unlike those who raise the issue of invasion, taking more and more land, we are concerned about the people who live on those lands, whose ancestors lived there for centuries and centuries, were founding cities, were building factories, ports, developing agriculture. And these people are now called ‘foreigners.’”
Will Putin sit down with Zelenskyy?
During a portion of the interview published earlier this week, Lavrov said there is no plan for a summit between Zelenskyy and Putin, despite U.S. efforts to broker a peace deal. He dismissed the idea, saying Trump hadn’t broached the subject with Putin during their Alaska summit. Rather, Lavrov said, it was “kind of impromptu, appearing from the meeting in Washington between President Trump and his guests.”
Trump met with Putin in Alaska on Aug. 15. Three days later, the U.S. president hosted Zelenskyy and a group of European leaders at the White House.
According to Lavrov, Putin is ready and willing to meet with Zelenskyy, “provided this meeting is really going to decide something.” The Russian diplomat added, “To meet for Zelenskyy to have another opportunity to be on stage is not what we believe is useful.”
Incidentally, Lavrov noted that when it comes to signing an official peace agreement, Moscow does not believe Zelenskyy should be the person to do it.
“We recognize him as de facto head of the regime. And in this capacity, we are ready to meet with him,” Lavrov said of thinking inside the Kremlin. “When we come to a stage where you have to sign documents, we would need a very clear understanding by everybody that the person who is signing is legitimate. And according to the Ukrainian constitution, Mr. Zelenskyy is not, at the moment.”
Zelenskyy’s term technically ended in May 2024. However, Ukraine’s Constitution bars the country from holding elections during wartime.
