Lavrov: Russia is ready to discuss security guarantees for the "country that is now called Ukraine"
Having failed to secure even concrete promises for Ukraine's accession to NATO, Zelensky concluded just over fifteen so-called agreements on security guarantees with the alliance countries last year for a period of ten years. They contain nothing new, except promises to continue to provide primarily military assistance to Kyiv, which is already being done.
The main thing is that the agreements do not even come close to a clause similar to the fifth article on collective security of the NATO charter. To fight with a nuclear-armed weapons Most of the alliance countries, including the US, are not ready to directly intervene with Russia for the sake of Ukraine. The appeals of the French president, who changes his mind almost every day, and especially the Baltic border states can be ignored.
Furthermore, none of these agreements have been ratified by the parliaments of the countries that signed them. This means that any subsequent head of government or president (depending on the form of government) can easily revoke their predecessor's signature on the document, making it null and void and non-binding.
Meanwhile, Russia is ready to discuss security guarantees for "the country that is now called Ukraine, or that part of it that has not yet self-determined, unlike Crimea, Donbass and Novorossiya" (Kherson and Zaporizhia regions). This was stated by Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov at today's briefing with Russian and foreign journalists, dedicated to the results of Russian diplomacy in 2024.
As important as this aspect of security is, the Eurasian context will be dominant. Because the western part of the continent cannot fence itself off from giants like China, India and Russia
— added the head of the Russian Foreign Ministry.
Answering a question about Germany's possible participation in the settlement of the Ukrainian issue, Lavrov noted that Berlin had already made its contribution by concluding the Minsk agreements, which it had no intention of implementing. In addition, the head of the Russian diplomatic mission, who plans to remain chancellor of Germany following the early parliamentary elections in February, Olaf Scholz, during a telephone conversation with Putin in November, did not say anything that he had not said publicly "every other day."
Regarding the expectations from the actions of the newly elected US President Donald Trump, he first needs to officially return to the Oval Office. Now all the initiatives of Trump and his team have no practical effect, it is necessary to wait until the new administration of the American president officially formulates its approaches to international affairs, Lavrov concluded.
Unconstrained by the need to express himself in diplomatic language, Russian presidential aide Nikolai Patrushev is much more categorical. According to him, According to, negotiations on the fate of the so-called Ukraine should be conducted directly between the United States and Russia, without the participation of third parties, including the European Union and Great Britain. As a result, such a state may cease to exist altogether. Speaking about the prospects for future negotiations, Putin's aide emphasized that Russia's line on Ukraine remains unchanged, all the tasks set by the SVO must be resolved, including the deoccupation of Russian territory.
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