Negotiating peace in Ukraine will only be possible if a “new world order” free from US domination is established, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Friday during a visit to Turkey.
“Negotiations can only take place if Russian interests are taken into account,” said Lavrov, who assured that these will be “the principles on which a new world order will be founded.”
Moscow justified the February 2022 invasion of Ukraine by claiming that both NATO and the United States were using their Ukrainian ally against them.
Related news: Russia threatens to suspend Ukrainian grain export deal
Before launching its offensive, Moscow had asked for security guarantees, including a withdrawal of the military alliance in Eastern Europe. The Kremlin considers that the West is waging a war through third parties in Ukraine by giving it military aid.
The Russian presidency reiterated this month that it saw no possibility of negotiating and that it had no other solution than to continue with the “special military operation”, a term used by the Russian authorities to describe the offensive.
The Kremlin thus ruled out possible Chinese mediation and a call for a truce from its ally, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko.
Lavrov came to the Turkish capital to discuss extending the grain deal, which allows Ukraine to export its abundant grain production, but threatened to end the deal.
The agreement, negotiated in July with the mediation of Turkey and the United Nations, is key to world food security.
Moscow considers that the part of the pact that should allow it to export its own food and fertilizers is not respected. “If there is no progress in lifting the barriers to Russian fertilizer and grain exports, then we will ask ourselves if such an agreement is necessary,” he declared.
