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The Russian government has accused President Volodymyr Zelenskyy of being too forthcoming regarding negotiations on a deal to end the war in Ukraine.
Russia’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Sergey Lavrov, said that, in contrast, Moscow has maintained decorum because details of peace talks should not be made public.
In an interview with Face the Nation on CBS, Lavrov declined to confirm whether Moscow is satisfied with the terms of the agreement on the Ukrainian settlement.
“We are really polite people, and unlike some others, we never discuss in public what is being discussed in negotiations,” he stated.
The minister said anyone interested in knowing the substance of the ongoing discussions should “go to Zelenskyy.”
“He is happy to talk to anybody through the media, even to President Trump,” Lavrov added.
The top diplomat, however, confirmed that negotiations continue and that until they are concluded, “we cannot disclose what they are about.”
Lavrov said Russia is making and considering proposals on the settlement process, assuring that the public will be informed of its position in due course.
United States President Donald Trump on Friday said that Crimea will stay with Russia amid the country’s ongoing war with Ukraine.
Trump made the statement during a wide-ranging interview with TIME magazine.
The US leader said, “Zelenskyy understands that and everybody understands that it [Crimea] is been with them [Russia] for a long time.”
Crimea is a strategic peninsula along the Black Sea in southern Ukraine.
In 2014, Crimea was seized by Russia while Barack Obama was President of the US.
“The people speak largely Russian in Crimea,” Trump added.
“But this was given by [Barack] Obama. This was not given by Trump.”
This comes after Trump recently accused Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy of prolonging the war by resisting peace negotiations with his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin.
