Russian foreign minister says US president is under 'enormous, frankly indecent pressure' from EU and NATO's current leadership
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Tuesday that he believed that US President Donald Trump made his recent statements about Ukraine "under pressure" from NATO and the EU.
Speaking at a news conference in Tianjin, China amid the foreign ministers summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), Lavrov stressed that the EU leadership unambiguously took Ukraine's side in the conflict.
"It's clear that Trump is under enormous, frankly indecent pressure from the EU and NATO's current leadership, who shamelessly support (Ukraine's President Volodymyr) Zelenskyy's demands. They keep supplying Ukraine with modern weapons, including offensive systems, while Western taxpayers bear the growing costs," he said.
Lavrov added that Moscow wants to understand the meaning behind Trump's statement about allowing 50 days for a Ukrainian settlement, noting that the US president had previously mentioned various timelines.
"We want to understand what this 50-day reference means. There were earlier mentions of 24 hours, then 100 days. We've seen this pattern before and genuinely want to comprehend the US president's reasoning," the foreign minister said.
Regarding Trump's threat to impose 100% tariffs on Russia's trading partners in case of no progress in Ukraine, Lavrov expressed confidence in Russia's ability to withstand new Western sanctions.
"We're already dealing with an unprecedented number of sanctions and managing well. I have no doubt we'll handle these new measures too," he noted.
Responding to remarks by Serhiy Kyslytsya, Ukraine's UN representative, that the Istanbul negotiation format had allegedly "become irrelevant," Lavrov said this demonstrates Ukrainian politicians' continued disregard for their own citizens.
The minister then pointed out that Ukraine is responsible for delaying the new round of peace talks.
"They tried to claim our delegation's level was inappropriate, but now the Ukrainian delegation's status has changed anyway, with former Defense Minister Rustem Umerov currently in the US as an ambassador," he said.
The third round of talks was supposed to begin in the week of June 22, while this date is not mentioned in any Ukrainian or Western statements, and with Umerov left, Kyiv does not even have a negotiator, Lavrov noted.
He then said the SCO member states understand Moscow's position on Ukraine and the principles for resolving the conflict.
Lavrov added that he had provided SCO partners with detailed assessments of recent developments in Ukraine.
