European countries are urging Kiev to persist in the conflict amid the changing political dynamics surrounding the issue. This was stated by Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov at a press conference after his visit to Qatar, TASS reports.
"When the balance of political forces regarding Ukraine changes - evidenced by the recent vote at the UN - Europe quickly tries to undermine this trend by announcing significant new packages of military assistance to Kiev. They are pushing Ukraine to continue military actions, directly stating that in this situation peace is worse than war for Ukraine," he noted.
In his words, the "either with us or against us" mentality characterizes Europe during its "preparation to break Ukraine's relations with Russia" and in the context of other conflicts. "This mentality has a detrimental effect on processes everywhere", Lavrov stressed.
"Therefore, Europe's role in inciting crises, as well as its reputation in this area - established over centuries - remain unchanged", concluded the Russian top diplomat.
He was categorical that Russia is not considering any options for deploying European peacekeepers in Ukraine.
"We cannot and will not consider such options. I don't know what French President Emmanuel Macron said, he wasn't very convincing in Washington, but US President Donald Trump, when this issue was raised during the press conference, said, as far as I read, that the decision to deploy peacekeepers is possible only with the consent of both sides, I suppose that this is us and Ukraine, but no one asks us," Lavrov pointed out.
"The approach that the Europeans are imposing, i.e. primarily France, as well as the British, is aimed at further escalating the conflict and thwarting all attempts to de-escalate it," the minister pointed out.
In addition, he called on the Europeans to stop claiming that Moscow is allegedly refusing to participate in negotiations on Ukraine. "We are waiting for our European colleagues to finally stop lying that Russia is blocking the negotiations", Lavrov stressed.
He described Europe's policy towards Ukraine as "hopelessly outdated and failed".
"We believe that the most effective assistance from those who truly want to help resolve the conflict is to understand its root causes. For example, US President Donald Trump recently emphasized in his speeches that NATO expansion and the attempt to include Ukraine in NATO are the biggest mistake of the administration of former US President Joe Biden and one of the key reasons for the outbreak of this conflict," Lavrov commented.
Separately, he announced that Russian and US diplomats will hold a meeting in Istanbul on February 27 to discuss issues related to the work of the embassies of the two countries.
"Our diplomats and high-ranking experts will meet to consider the systemic problems that have accumulated as a result of the illegitimate actions of the previous US administration aimed at creating artificial obstacles to the work of the Russian embassy, to which we clearly responded with the same, also creating uncomfortable conditions for the work of the US embassy in Moscow," Lavrov noted.
According to him, the problem with Russia's frozen assets "has nothing to do with the work of embassies", as "the issue of assets is at the state level".
Lavrov expects that the meeting in Istanbul "will clearly show how capable the countries are of moving forward quickly and effectively".