JAKARTA - Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Wednesday that Russia wanted to know if Donald Trump had really changed his stance on the Ukraine war, after French President Emmanuel Macron hinted at this month's G7 summit that the US President had.
President Macron, host of the G7 summit in the French town of Evian-les-Bains, said President Trump had acknowledged during talks there that Russia did not want peace in Ukraine and that this marked a "real change of approach" from the US.
President Trump himself urged Russia to make peace with Ukraine after holding a meeting he described as "very good" with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, comments that sparked cautious optimism among G7 leaders that a peace deal could be reached.
"As far as Ukraine is concerned, we want to understand what happened in Evian," Lavrov said at an event in Moscow, launching Al Arabiya from Reuter (25/6).
"The Americans have not told us what they got out of the Evian summit or what the next steps they will take," he said.
Foreign Minister Lavrov also quoted President Macron as saying that the understanding reached last August between President Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin in Anchorage, Alaska, had been "buried" in Evian.
Russian officials regularly refer to the so-called "Spirit of Anchorage" - a shorthand term, analysts say, for what Moscow interprets as the basis for a possible deal that would see Ukrainian forces withdraw from the rest of the Donbas region in eastern Ukraine in return for Moscow's freezing of battle lines elsewhere.
On Tuesday, President Putin said Russia was ready to negotiate with Ukraine based on the Anchorage and Istanbul agreements and the reality on the ground.
Speaking at a meeting with government officials, President Putin underlined the stalled negotiation process on Ukraine's initiative.
"Russia is ready for peace talks with Ukraine based on the agreement reached in Istanbul," he said, launching Anadolu.
"Based on the agreement reached in Istanbul, on the modalities discussed in Anchorage, and, most importantly, on the reality on the ground," he said.
On the other hand, Ukraine has repeatedly said it will not surrender its territory to Russia without a fight.
Underlining Moscow's growing frustration with the situation, Foreign Minister Lavrov on Tuesday suggested the Alaska summit may have been "a US tactic to buy time to rearm the Kyiv regime," while two other senior Russian officials also accused Washington this week of failing to meet the "understanding" of Anchorage.
On Wednesday, Foreign Minister Lavrov said President Putin had approved what the veteran diplomat said was a US proposal.
"In Anchorage, he (President Putin) told President Trump: 'There are some nuances here, but I will take responsibility for them; I accept your proposal.' That was already a compromise. And now they are telling us: 'Listen, this didn't work - let's make another concession,'" he said.
Foreign Minister Lavrov repeatedly stressed that Moscow wants to continue talking to the US and hopes to hear what President Trump's envoys - Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner - will say on their next visit to Moscow.
However, he also complained about the continued US sanctions against Russia and regretted that the two countries had not even been able to resume direct flights or agree on the return of Russian diplomatic property seized by US authorities.
Foreign Minister Lavrov added that the US also did not restrict the sale of weapons to European countries for Ukraine.
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