Sergei Lavrov has disclosed that Russia has proposed holding the next round of peace talks with Ukraine on June 2, 2025 in Istanbul. “The Russian side, as agreed, has promptly developed a relevant memorandum, which sets out our position on all aspects of reliably overcoming the root causes of the crisis,” the Russian Foreign Minister said.
Lavrov added that the Russian delegation, led by Vladimir Medinskiy, is ready to present the memorandum to the Ukrainian side and to provide necessary clarifications during the second round of resumed direct talks in Istanbul next Monday.
Russia and Ukraine held their latest round of direct talks on May 16, 2025, their first face-to-face negotiations since March 2022. The talks in Istanbul ended without a ceasefire agreement.
In an earlier statement, Lavrov pointed to need to address the “root causes” of the war, saying that the Ukraine conflict was “sparked by NATO’s long-standing aggressive eastward expansion, carried out despite repeated assurances from both the Americans and Europeans, initially to the Soviet leadership and later to Russia.”
He emphasized that Ukraine’s neutral, non-aligned and nuclear-free status remains one of Russia’s “essential demands, which must be part of any settlement, as laid out during the April 2022 Istanbul talks.”
He noted that at the negotiations in Istanbul on May 16, 2025, Moscow again demanded that “all those discriminatory laws be repealed.” Lavrov added, “We will maintain this position at the upcoming round of direct talks.”
Also, Lavrov stressed that Russia views “as totally unacceptable the West’s focus on the principle of territorial integrity” while disregarding the principle of peoples’ right to self-determination in the Ukraine conflict.
According to Lavrov, the West has failed to uphold human rights throughout the conflict. On the contrary, he said, it openly promotes increased support for Ukraine, claiming that it “protects European values.”
“This is what those values boil down to — the erasure of national identities, especially that of Russians and Russian-speaking population.”
Sergei Lavrov
Additionally, the Russian Foreign Minister said that the “acts of terrorism” committed by Ukraine, “whose special services orchestrate assassinations of Russian politicians, military personnel, journalists, and public figures,” go unnoticed.
“It is unfortunate that the West only reacts to our justified and proportionate responses to Kiev’s terrorist attacks on civilians, while our retaliatory measures exclusively target military sites and infrastructure used by the Ukrainian army.”
Sergei Lavrov
Lavrov Says Trump Gets Incomplete Reports On Ukraine
Moreover, Russian Foreign Minister, Sergei Lavrov stated that US President Donald Trump’s criticism of his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin shows that he doesn’t get full reports on Ukraine.
“There have been multiple comments about this in recent days. One thing is clear: Not everything is reported to Donald Trump and those who actually make decisions in connection with the Ukrainian conflict.
“Information is given to him after some of it gets sifted out. It is information that is prepared by those who want to nudge America toward more aggressive actions against Russia in support of the Ukrainian regime. We will work to remedy this lack of information.”
Sergei Lavrov
Separately, Lavrov said that Germany’s plans to jointly develop long-range missiles with Ukraine, as well as supplies of its tanks to Kyiv, showed that it was already a participant in the Russia-Ukraine war.
Lavrov told a Russian state TV reporter that Berlin’s decisions were “building tension.” He added that he hoped “responsible politicians” in Germany “will make the right conclusion and stop the madness.”
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