MOSCOW, August 22. /TASS/. Western media claims that Moscow is undermining the Ukraine settlement process are groundless, the Russian Foreign Ministry said.
The ministry pointed to reports by Bloomberg, the Wall Street Journal and some other Western news outlets, which "basically accused" top Russian diplomat Sergey Lavrov of undermining the agreements reached at the Russia-US summit in Alaska, as they referred to his remark that banning Russia from serving as a security guarantor for Ukraine was unacceptable.
"How is it possible to draw the conclusion from what Lavrov said that Russia is undermining the settlement process? On the contrary, Russia maintains a consistent position, and the foreign minister’s statements reiterate the ideas that the Russian president has repeatedly voiced with regard to the Ukraine crisis. It’s worth pointing out that under the Russian Constitution, it is the president that determines the country’s foreign policy, while the Foreign Ministry implements the president’s foreign policy course, which is what Lavrov does. This is why allegations that the ministry is undermining anything are simply ridiculous. In our view, the Western media are making unscrupulous speculation on pressing issues, so we once again call for a critical approach to such bogus stories," the Russian Foreign Ministry stressed.
Russia-US summit
President Vladimir Putin of Russia and President Donald Trump of the United States held a meeting at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson in Alaska on August 15. The meeting lasted about three hours, including a one-on-one in the US leader’s limo on the way to the summit’s venue and a closed-door event that also involved two delegation members on each side: Kremlin Aide Yury Ushakov and Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov represented Russia, while Secretary of State and Special Presidential Envoy Steve Witkoff represented the US.
Putin told the media after the talks that the parties had focused on resolving the Ukraine conflict. The Russian leader also called for turning the page in bilateral relations and going back to cooperation. Putin invited Trump to visit Moscow. The US leader, in turn, pointed to progress in the negotiation process but noted that the parties had not been able to agree on all issues.
In an interview with Fox News, Trump rated the meeting as ten out of ten, saying that many points had been agreed on and future developments depended on Kiev. The US president also expressed confidence that a deal on Ukraine could be reached quickly enough.