Minister Lavrov Remains Willing to Negotiate with US

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov remains willing to negotiate with his American counterpart Antony Blinken. “Even in difficult moments, we are ready for negotiations,” said a spokeswoman for Lavrov. The two have an appointment to meet in Geneva on Thursday.

On Monday, President Vladimir Putin recognized two small breakaway “people’s republics” as independent and said Russia is starting a military “peace mission” there. The first soldiers of that ‘mission’ have already crossed the Russian-Ukrainian border, according to the defence minister of Poland, Mariusz Błaszczak.

The American ambassador to the United Nations, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, called the peace mission in the Security Council complete nonsense. She says it is part of the justifications the Kremlin is seeking for a war.

She said the consequences of the Russian actions are serious for Ukraine, for all of Europe and for the whole world. The Russian delegate to the UN said at the emergency meeting of the Security Council that his country remains open to a diplomatic solution to the Ukraine conflict. “But we will not allow another massacre in Donbas, the eastern Ukrainian region where two provinces seceded in 2014 after a pro-Russian president of Ukraine was ousted.

The UN chief of political affairs, Rosemary DiCarlo, said at the hearing that the UN regretted sending Russian troops to Donbas. The UN is in favour of an independent Ukraine with internationally recognized borders. However, DiCarlo warned that there is “a big risk that this is going to be a very big conflict”.