MOSCOW: Russia is ready to reach a deal on Ukraine with the US, but there are details that still need to be agreed upon, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said in an interview with CBS News.
“The US President believes — and I think rightly so — that we are moving in the right direction. In his statement, the President mentioned a deal, and we are ready to reach a deal. But there are certain details that need to be finalized. We are busy with this process,” Lavrov said.
When asked whether the meeting between US President’s envoy Steve Witkoff and Russian President Vladimir Putin would take place and whether a deal would be concluded, the minister said that Moscow was continuing contacts with Washington regarding the settlement of the conflict. On April 22, Russian presidential aide Yuri Ushakov said that Witkoff was planning to visit Moscow this week. According to Axios, Putin’s talks with Trump’s envoy could take place on April 25.
"There are several signs that we are moving in the right direction," Lavrov noted.
First of all, Trump is "probably the only leader on Earth" who recognizes the need to eliminate the root causes of the conflict - in particular, attempts to draw Ukraine into NATO.
The head of the Foreign Ministry also said that Russia only strikes military targets or "civilian objects used by the military." Commenting on the strikes on Kyiv on the night of April 24, Trump said that "they are not necessary, the timing is very bad." "Vladimir, stop!" he wrote on his social network Truth Social. The Kremlin recalled that the Easter truce had ended and that "the military is continuing a special military operation." The Russian Defense Ministry reported in its summary on a “massive strike with long-range precision weapons of air, land and sea basing, unmanned aerial vehicles on enterprises of the aviation, rocket and space, mechanical engineering and armored industry of Ukraine, production of rocket fuel and gunpowder.”
Last week in Paris, the United States presented “framework proposals” on Ukraine. In particular, according to The Wall Street Journal, Axios and The Washington Post, this concerns freezing hostilities along the contact line, recognizing Russia’s control over the captured territories and Russian sovereignty over Crimea, denying Ukraine NATO membership and easing sanctions.
On April 24, the American leader, answering the question of what concessions Russia was ready to make, said: “Stop the war. Stop the seizure of the entire country. These are pretty big concessions.” There is a “deal” with Moscow, it remains to agree with Kiev, he said before. “I thought it would be easier with Zelensky. It's a little more complicated at the moment, but that's okay. But I think we'll come to an agreement with both of them," Trump is convinced.
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