21.05.2025 21:00

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has commented on Kremlin dictator Vladimir Putin’s effective rejection of a ceasefire in Ukraine following his May 19 phone call with U.S. President Donald Trump.

According to Ukrinform, Lavrov made the remarks during a meeting with students at the Russian-Armenian University in Yerevan on May 21, according to The Moscow Times.

Lavrov characterized the initiative for an immediate and unconditional ceasefire as a tactic of “Let’s agree to a ceasefire first — and then we’ll see,” stating that Russia would not accept such terms.

“We’ve already been through that scenario, and we don’t want to go back,” Lavrov said, referring to the failed negotiations between Moscow and Kyiv in 2022.

The long-term ceasefire previously advocated by Ukraine and its European allies, according to Lavrov, is just one part of what he described as “preparing concrete steps toward a sustainable long-term settlement” in Ukraine — the kind of approach discussed during the Trump-Putin call.

He further claimed that in 2022, Western countries allegedly “forbade” Ukraine from signing an agreement with Russia in Istanbul, and that the Kremlin is now waiting for the “root causes of the conflict” to be addressed.

On May 19, U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian leader Vladimir Putin held a two-hour phone conversation. Afterward, Trump stated that Russia and Ukraine would immediately begin negotiations on a ceasefire and ending the war.

Putin, in turn, said Russia was ready to work with Ukraine “on a memorandum regarding a potential future peace agreement,” which would outline key principles for a settlement, possible timelines for reaching an agreement, and a potential temporary ceasefire — if relevant agreements can be reached.

(c)UKRINFORM 2025