30.06.2023, Moscow.
Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov called US Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s remarks about the need to end the conflict in Ukraine by diplomatic means strange during a briefing on June 30.
“My assessment is that they are trying to somehow temporarily freeze this conflict, achieve some kind of cease-fire and buy time to pump Ukraine up militarily again,” the minister said, noting that “this is exactly the scenario being promoted by the US political analysts.”
On this basis, Lavrov found the Secretary of State’s statement about the need to end the conflict “diplomatically, through negotiations,” strange.
He also recalled remarks by the US side stating that a condition for starting such negotiations should be the withdrawal of Russian forces outside the 1991 borders, a trial of the Russian leadership, and the payment of reparations by Russia. Lavrov stressed that this position does not correspond to Blinken’s new statements and raises suspicions of a “split personality” of the secretary of state.
The day before, Blinken stated that the Ukrainian counterattack had only just begun and that the main events would take place in the coming weeks and months.
Source: Rossa Primavera News Agency
