Russia Awaits Proposals for Ukraine Talks, Says Lavrov

YEKATERINBURG, September 16. /TASS/. Russia is awaiting proposals for talks on Ukraine but has no grand illusions about them, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said at the International Youth Festival.

"We will wait for proposals. But let me tell you a secret though: we have no grand illusions here," he said.

Lavrov stressed that Moscow would be satisfied with dialogue in any format. "We are ready for both bilateral and trilateral talks. We have never refused them," he said.

The Russian foreign minister recalled that "our US colleagues, who recently visited Russia again, proceed from the fact that they proposed trilateral talks."

"Such a format has already taken place in the Emirates – the United States, Russia and Ukraine," Lavrov added.

"All the negotiating processes that were launched, starting with the Belarusian-Turkish talks in March-April 2022, which ended in Istanbul with the disruption of an agreement that had already been reached, followed by bilateral Russian-Ukrainian talks in Geneva and trilateral talks in Abu Dhabi with US participation – all these negotiating processes were interrupted not at our initiative," the foreign minister said.

Speaking about a possible venue for the talks, Lavrov said that "anything that is acceptable to the participants in the talks is possible." He was answering a question about whether Serbia could be considered as a venue for talks on the Ukraine settlement.

The International Youth Festival is being held in Yekaterinburg from September 11 to 17 under the slogan "Follow Your Dream." The festival is expected to be attended by 10,000 young leaders from 191 countries: 5,000 from Russia and 5,000 from other countries. The program will include 1,000 teenagers aged 14 to 17.

TASS is the event’s general information partner.