Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov welcomed what he called a “realistic assessment of what is happening” by Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelensky and said Russia’s negotiators were cautiously optimistic.
NATO’s reaction to Zelensky’s calls for imposing a no-fly zone over the country poured cold water on his aspirations, Lavrov said in an interview with RBC on Wednesday.
"We remember how President Zelensky spoke a few weeks ago about the need for NATO to establish a no-fly zone, engage in fighting for Ukraine, recruit mercenaries and send them to the front," he pointed out. "These statements were quite aggressive, but it seems that the reaction of the North Atlantic Alliance, where there still are some sensible people, poured cold water on his aspirations," Lavrov emphasized.
According to him, "the adequacy of the current situation is worth welcoming."
Lavrov said that Russia and Ukraine were discussing “specific wordings that are close to being agreed” at the talks, including security guarantees for Moscow and neutrality for Kyiv.
“The businesslike mood that has started to come through [ . . .] gives hope that we can specifically agree on this topic.”
