Lavrov says he held brief meetings with Macron, Scholz

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has said that on the sidelines of the G20 summit he had brief conversations with French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz on ways of handling the conflict over Ukraine.

After participation in the G20 summit Lavrov told the media that third world countries were well aware that this process "is impeded by Ukraine, which, among other things, under [President Vladimir] Zelensky’s decree banned negotiations with Russia."

"This question (about negotiations - TASS) is not for us to answer, as I, in fact, stated in today’s brief conversations with President Macron and Chancellor Scholz," Lavrov said.

He also noted that no one, "except for the West and its closest satellites," joined the anti-Russian sanctions.

"All third world countries, whenever they touch upon this topic - and it is impossible not to touch upon it, because the West makes it a priority to embed the Ukrainian affair into any discussion - call for a peace settlement and for achieving an agreement as soon as possible," Lavrov added.