MOSCOW, September 8. /TASS/. Moscow is open to negotiations on Ukraine but will not stop executing tasks through military means as they are underway, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said.

"Military actions and diplomacy. I see no reason why they could not unfold simultaneously," he said in an interview with Channel One’s Big Game (Bolshaya Igra) show. "After we were deceived in April 2022 when we were ready to accept the Ukrainian proposals, had initialed them, and were expecting the start of preparations for a full-fledged treaty. French President Emmanuel Macron called Russian President Vladimir Putin and asked him to make a gesture of goodwill to improve the atmosphere for the signing, to withdraw troops, take a pause. And after this deception was exposed, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that we remained open to negotiations, but we would not stop execution of our objectives through military means while negotiations were underway. This line is still valid today," Lavrov said.