Lavrov: Had US not backed away from Anchorage, we would have lived without war for a year

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has claimed that Russia “would have been living without war for a year” had the US “not backed away from the agreements” reached in August 2025 in Alaska.

Source: Lavrov at a round table on the Russia-Ukraine war, quoted by Russian propaganda agencies TASS, RIA Novosti and RBC

Quote from Lavrov: “If the Americans had not backed away from the Anchorage agreements, if Europe had not dragged those agreements out, we would have already been living without war for a year. That is a clear fact, so draw your own conclusions.”

Details: Meanwhile, he reiterated the claim that Russia has allegedly “never refused negotiations.”

“We have never refused negotiations. And all those negotiations that took place were halted not on our initiative. Therefore, if our colleagues are ready, I believe they can certainly be resumed. We have something to say,” Lavrov stated.

He also insisted that Moscow has allegedly “never, not once, changed its position” since the start of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine and is supposedly “ready to seek compromises”.

“Under this heading, we are prepared to search for reasonable compromises, but we have fundamentally not altered our objectives to guarantee our security, prevent NATO’s presence on our borders, secure the legitimate rights of Russians and Russian-speaking people who have lived on these lands for centuries, and free them from the threats of Nazification, militarisation, and so forth,” the Russian minister said.

He added that Moscow is allegedly prepared for both bilateral and trilateral negotiations.

However, the Russian official stated that the Russian Federation would not halt its aggression against Ukraine during any potential talks.

Background:

On 15 June, Lavrov stated that Russia was awaiting a renewed visit from special envoys of the US president and wished to hear from them how America intends to implement the agreements on ending the Russian war against Ukraine, which were reached between Russian leader Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump in Anchorage in the summer of 2025.
Following this, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio informed journalists that no agreements concerning Ukraine were made during the previous year’s summit between US President Donald Trump and Russian leader Vladimir Putin.
He subsequently added that the approach proposed by the Russians in Anchorage the previous year had failed, as it was unacceptable to Ukraine.
Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin met on 15 August 2025 at a military base in Anchorage, Alaska. The meeting ended without any agreements being reached or any ceasefire in Ukraine being announced, despite claims of “significant progress”.
On 16 August 2025, after talks with Putin, Trump first spoke with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and later with Zelenskyy and European leaders.
Bloomberg reported that during the call with European leaders and Zelenskyy, Trump said Putin continued to demand the withdrawal of Ukrainian troops from the entire territory of Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts in Ukraine’s east.