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US blocking Ukraine from conducting peace talks, hopes to exhaust Russia — Lavrov

Sergey Lavrov also commented on US President Joe Biden’s remark that Ukraine must succeed on the battlefield in order to prevent a third world war

MOSCOW, December 28. /TASS/. The United States is not allowing Kiev to conduct peace negotiations with Moscow, hoping to exhaust Russia, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said in an interview with the Great Game program on Channel One.

"Now everyone is talking again about the need for talks, but they immediately accuse us of refusing to negotiate, although [Russian President Vladimir] Putin has repeatedly said that there are no serious proposals," Lavrov said. "The example of the Istanbul meeting showed clearly that even that time the US told Kiev to hold back: ‘Not yet. You have not exhausted Russia to the degree that we, the Americans, find sufficient.’"

"They say that Kiev is ready, while Russia allegedly does not wish to talk. By doing so they play innocent at a time when Kiev declares that it will never come to the negotiating table until it gains its allegedly primordial Ukrainian-Crimean lands and so on," Lavrov continued. "Now they are already saying that they will not negotiate before Russia capitulates. And [Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmitry] Kuleba adds this will not happen until Russia pays reparations."

Lavrov also commented on US President Joe Biden’s remark that Ukraine must succeed on the battlefield in order to prevent a third world war.

"When a person says such things, if they made a conscious statement, then they probably have something up their sleeve," Lavrov said.

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