Russia claims that achieving a peace agreement on Ukraine with the United States is difficult

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov stated that reaching an agreement with the United States on critical elements of a potential peace settlement to conclude the conflict in Ukraine has proven challenging. He emphasized that Russia will not allow itself to become economically reliant on the West again.

U.S. President Donald Trump, who aspires to be remembered as a peacemaker, has consistently expressed his desire to end the “bloodbath” of the ongoing three-year war in Ukraine, although no agreement has been finalized.

In an interview with the Kommersant newspaper, Lavrov remarked, “It is not easy to agree on the key components of a settlement. They are currently under discussion,” when asked about the potential for consensus between Moscow and Washington regarding a peace deal.

He further explained, “We understand what a mutually beneficial agreement entails, which we have never dismissed, and what a deal might lead us into another trap,” as stated in the interview published in Tuesday’s edition. The Kremlin indicated on Sunday that it is premature to anticipate outcomes from the effort to restore more normalized relations with Washington.

Lavrov noted that President Vladimir Putin had clearly articulated Russia’s stance in June 2024, insisting that Ukraine must officially abandon its NATO aspirations and withdraw its forces from the entirety of the four Ukrainian regions claimed by Russia.

“We are discussing the rights of the people residing in these territories. This is why these lands hold significance for us, and we cannot relinquish them, allowing people to be displaced,” Lavrov asserted.

Currently, Russia occupies nearly one-fifth of Ukraine, including Crimea, which it annexed in 2014, along with parts of four other regions that Moscow now claims as Russian territory—a claim that is not recognized by the majority of nations. Lavrov commended Trump’s “common sense” and noted that previous U.S. support for Ukraine’s NATO membership bid was a significant factor contributing to the war in Ukraine.

According to him, Russia’s political leadership would not tolerate any actions that could lead the country back into economic, military, technological, or agricultural reliance on the West.

Lavrov stated that the globalization of the world economy has been undermined by the sanctions imposed on Russia, China, and Iran by the administration of former U.S. President Joe Biden.

Biden, along with Western European leaders and Ukraine, characterizes Russia’s invasion in 2022 as an imperialistic land grab and has consistently pledged to overcome Russian military forces.

In contrast, Putin frames the conflict in Ukraine as part of a struggle against a waning West, which he claims has humiliated Russia since the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 by expanding NATO and infringing upon what he views as Moscow’s rightful sphere of influence.