China could arrange Russia-Ukraine peace conference, Lavrov says

China could arrange a peace conference in which Russia and Ukraine would participate, the RIA news agency cited Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov as saying on Thursday (30 May).

Lavrov said such a move would be a continuation of Beijing’s efforts to resolve the Ukrainian crisis.

“We share (China’s) position that the root causes of the conflict need to be addressed in the first place and legal interests of all parties need to be protected, with subsequent agreements based on the principle of equal and indivisible security,” Lavrov said in an interview with the agency.

“Let me underscore again, this entails respecting realities on the ground, which reflect the will of people living there.”

Russia has repeatedly called for talks with a precondition that Kyiv and the West recognise its territorial gains in Ukraine. Kyiv has rejected those proposals.

Lavrov criticised the United States for aiding Ukraine, saying Washington has become “an accomplice in the crimes of the Kyiv regime”.

He said, in particular, that Russia regarded the planned supplies of nuclear-capable F-16 fighters to Ukraine as a “signal action” by NATO.

“They are trying to tell us that the United States and NATO would stop at nothing in Ukraine,” Lavrov said.

“Nevertheless, we hope that the Russian-Belarusian drills on the use of non-strategic nuclear weapons that are under way now will knock some sense into our opponents by reminding them about the catastrophic consequences of further nuclear escalation.”

In the Middle East, Lavrov said, the United States was also “fanning the flames of conflict”.

Russian President Vladimir Putin is ready to halt the war in Ukraine with a negotiated ceasefire that recognises the current battlefield lines, four Russian sources told Reuters recently.

Ukraine and up to 100 countries would attend the conference a Ukraine peace conference at the luxury Burgenstock resort near the central city of Luzern on June 15-16, which Swiss President Viola Amherd said she would host.

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy appealed to US President Joe Biden and Chinese leader Xi Jinping on 26 May) to attend the peace summit in Switzerland.

(Edited by Georgi Gotev)

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