Russian foreign minister says agreement with US on Ukraine peace deal ‘not easy’

“The key components of the settlement are not easy to agree on. They are being discussed,” Sergey Lavrov said in an interview with the local Kommersant newspaper published late Monday, in response to a question on whether Russia and the US formulated the key parameters of a future comprehensive deal on Ukraine.

Recalling that Russian President Vladimir Putin outlined Moscow’s expectations from a potential deal back in June last year, Lavrov said this position is not some kind of request.

“I emphasize once again, it is firmly based on the wording of the United Nations Charter, on numerous conventions and on the results of referendums, on the results of the expression of the will of the people in the territories in question,” Lavrov further said, referring to Ukrainian territories annexed by Moscow in 2022.

Commenting on the peace talks with Washington, Lavrov said “common sense” guides the approach of the administration of US President Donald Trump.

He further said that Russia and the US are obliged to do everything, as “responsible international players,” to ensure that a clash of different interests does not turn into confrontation.

“And in those cases -- let there be fewer of them -- when these interests coincide, we are obliged to do everything in our power not to miss the moment, to translate this coincidence into mutually beneficial … projects,” Lavrov also said.

The Russian foreign minister added that Moscow understands what a mutually beneficial deal, as well as a deal that could drive Russia into “another trap” looks like.