Politics

Lavrov: Russia wants solution to Ukraine conflict, but West standing in way

Brasilia, Apr 17 (EFE).- Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Monday in Brazil’s capital that Moscow wants a lasting solution to the conflict in Ukraine but that neither that country nor the West are working toward that objective.

“We need to resolve the conflict in a lasting way, not in a short-term way,” but the countries of NATO and the West have not fulfilled the “commitments they assumed,” Lavrov told Brazilian counterpart Mauro Vieira in an apparent reference to the Minsk agreements, which were a series of accords first drafted in 2014 that unsuccessfully sought to end the Donbas war pitting armed Russian separatist groups against Ukraine’s armed forces.

Lavrov thanked Vieira for Brazil’s opposition to the trade sanctions imposed on Russia by several countries after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

He added that they were the product of an “illegal decision” because they were not approved by the United Nations Security Council (due to permanent member Russia’s use of its veto power).

Vieira said of the sanctions that Brazil traditionally only supports those that have the backing of the Security Council and noted that “they have had an impact on the entire global economy, which still has not recovered from the pandemic.”

Brazil’s foreign minister reiterated his country’s position about the need to seek a cease-fire in Ukraine and form a group of friendly countries to pursue a mediated solution.

Lavrov, meanwhile, expressed thanks for Brazil’s support but did not discuss those possibilities in depth.

Brazil is the first stop on a tour that will also take Lavrov over the next few days to Venezuela, Cuba and Nicaragua, three countries with close economic and political ties to Russia.

After his sit-down with Vieira, Lavrov is scheduled to hold a private meeting with Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva at his official residence in Brasilia. EFE

ed/mc

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