The Russian and American sides have reached an agreement to shape a process to resolve the conflict in Ukraine, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said, quoted by Reuters, BTA reports.
Lavrov made the statement after today's talks between Russia and the United States, which were held in Riyadh.
The Russian Foreign Minister expressed gratitude to Saudi Arabia for providing Washington and Moscow with the opportunity to negotiate.
“The talks were useful, we heard and understood the position of the other side“, Lavrov commented, adding that the two countries had agreed to appoint their envoys to Russia and the United States as soon as possible. He stressed that an agreement had been reached to remove barriers to diplomatic missions and create conditions for the restoration of cooperation between the countries.
“There was also a strong interest in removing barriers to economic cooperation“, Lavrov said, adding that the two countries demonstrated a mutual interest in finding solutions to the problems.
The Russian Foreign Minister noted that Russia had emphasized in the negotiations that NATO expansion was a direct threat to the country and could not be accepted. Lavrov also mentioned Ukraine's attack on the Caspian Pipeline Consortium (CPC), which he said proved that the actions of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and his government must be strictly controlled.
Regarding Ukraine's membership in NATO, Lavrov said that this was unacceptable for Russia, as was the deployment of NATO troops in Ukraine, even under a foreign flag. He stressed that NATO expansion, especially Ukraine's admission to the alliance, poses a direct threat to Russia's sovereignty.
“We explained that the presence of armed forces from NATO member states under a foreign flag will not change anything and will be equally unacceptable for us“, Lavrov specified.
Regarding President Zelensky's comments on the Russian-American negotiations, Lavrov said that there was no need to go into details, recalling that Russian President Vladimir Putin had already expressed his opinion on the matter.
“I can say that today's negotiations were not unsuccessful“, Lavrov concluded.