UNITED NATIONS, September 28. /TASS/. Ukraine shrinks every time proposed talks with Russia are upset, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told a news conference following his participation in the high-level week of the 79th session of the UN General Assembly.

"Each time an agreement Russia always goes for is derailed, Ukraine shrinks," he said, citing Ukraine's refusal to implement the Minsk agreements and Kiev's disruption of the negotiations in 2022 as an example.

Lavrov recalled how Ukraine’s chief delegate to the talks with Russia in 2022, David Arahamiya, said that then British Prime Minister Boris Johnson had come to Kiev and advised Ukraine to go on fighting.

"If Ukraine continues along the same path, if it continues to use some gimmicks again in order to buy time, it will not succeed," Lavrov emphasized.

Ukraine has "forever undermined" its legitimacy, at least as long as the current regime is in power.

"I very much hope that our Chinese and Brazilian friends and all those who have joined this group of 'friends of peace' will fully take into account the manners and ways of the current Ukrainian leadership and its endless attempts to lure everyone by deception on their very quick and shifting sand," Lavrov pointed out.

Lavrov also noted that Russia is glad to see any initiatives concerning the Ukrainian settlement, including the one proposed by former US President Donald Trump, provided they will help eliminate the root causes of the crisis.

"Trump said some time ago that he would need 24 hours. Now the wording is different," Lavrov recalled. "We will welcome any initiatives that will bring about the desired result."

"And there can be only one result - a settlement of this problem on the basis of eliminating the root causes of the Ukrainian crisis," Lavrov stated.

Among these root causes the Russian foreign minister singled out the threat to Russia's security from the West, which has been dragging Ukraine into its military bloc, while "security is essential not as some abstract term, but as a basic human need." Another root cause of the conflict, he stated, was discrimination against the Russian-speaking population, including through laws banning the use of the Russian language and even the canonical Orthodox Church.

"If Mr. Trump succeeds in overturning these laws we are talking about, it will be a stride forward," Lavrov said. "It's the easiest thing to do - just hold a vote.".

"Our position is crystal clear: we need to eliminate the root causes [of the conflict]. Everyone knows what they are," Lavrov said. 

The minister recalled the Ukrainian presidential decree that prohibits negotiations with Russia.

"[President Vladimir] Zelensky’s decree prohibiting negotiations with Russia is still in force there, so I am not even going to speculate on how they are going to sort things out," Lavrov said.

China, Brazil's peace plan

Lavrov said he had asked China and Brazil about the contents of their peace initiatives on Ukraine.

"My colleagues and I <…> discussed their plans. I asked them about practical aspects of their initiative, because the five-or six-point Chinese-Brazilian plan has correct ideas, such as calls for peace, for justice, for compliance with the international law. No one objects to that, but no one has spoken on how exactly they are planning to achieve peace. All I know is that this matter is only at the stage of consideration," Lavrov said at a news conference to sum up the results of his participation in the High-Level Week of the 79th UN General Assembly.

China and Brazil have not yet drafted their plan on resolving the crisis in Ukraine, they only made declarations of intention, Lavrov added.

"I saw no action plan in the document. I only saw a declaration of intention," he said.

Earlier, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi announced at a meeting with Celso Amorim, chief advisor to the Brazilian president, that China, Brazil and other countries of the Global South were creating a platform to facilitate a peaceful solution to the Ukraine crisis.

Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky criticized the plan, calling it "destructive." The Russian Foreign Ministry’s spokeswoman, Maria Zakharova, replied that Zelensky was not in a position to criticize it, because it the West who is making all decisions for Kiev.