The European leaders cannot be involved in peace negotiations for Ukraine because they want the war to continue, says the Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, amid reports that the Americans have decided to exclude the Europeans.
NEWS: Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has said he doesn't know why Europe should sit at the negotiating table on Ukraine, as the European leaders' philosophy on the conflict "hasn't gone anywhere". Lavrov reacted to the words of the President of Finland, Alexander Stubb, at the Munich Security Conference, who supported the idea of rearming Ukraine.
"The European philosophy hasn’t gone anywhere. So, I don't know what they should do at the negotiating table. If they are going to beg for some sly ideas about freezing the conflict - while what they really want is continue the war - then why invite them there?" , Lavrov told a news conference after talks with the Serbian Foreign Minister Marko Djuric.
NARRATIVE: The EU should not participate in the peace talks because its goal is to keep the war in Ukraine going.
PURPOSE: To discredit the European leaders and blame the war in Ukraine on the EU policies
WHY THE NARRATIVE IS FALSE: Claiming that the EU wants war in Ukraine is false for several reasons. First, the European Union has consistently advocated for peaceful solutions and a diplomatic resolution to the conflict since the Franco-German mediation of the Donbas war in 2014-2015. Thanks to that mediation, the hot phase of the war was frozen. By imposing sanctions against Russia and supporting Ukraine, the EU has sought to weaken Moscow's war machine. The EU has imposed a series of sanctions against individuals and organizations, and restricted access to essential technologies and markets.
Since Russia's invasion of Ukraine, the EU has provided Kyiv with economic, humanitarian and military aid worth more than 88 billion Euros. The EU is making a substantial contribution to strengthening Ukraine's resilience and has established a new Ukraine Facility , intended to provide the country with stable financial support of up to 50 billion Euro over the period 2024-2027. This commitment demonstrates the EU's intention to promote stability and peace in the region, not perpetuate conflict. The EU's position has been consistent with the UN principles that allow support for an aggressed party.
In the context of the peace talks initiated by the Trump administration, the EU wants to obtain a lasting peace for Ukraine, not one that poses security risks for the European continent. Moreover, the EU cannot contribute to the future security architecture of Europe based on discussions and decisions made by the Russian and American sides. According to the European Council President Antonio Costa, the EU's involvement in these negotiations is crucial to address European security as a whole and to ensure stability on the continent. The war in Ukraine is not only a regional issue, but also a global threat , especially from Russia, the official also said. France, Germany, Spain and other states have insisted that Ukraine and the EU be directly involved in the peace talks on the Russian-Ukrainian war.
We should mention that it is Russia that first attacked Ukraine in 2014 and then in 2022, and the war can be stopped at any time following a decision taken unilaterally by Moscow. The UN has repeatedly asked Russia to withdraw its troops from the territory of the Ukrainian state, condemning the violation of international law. From Moscow's point of view, however, the end of the war would mean the end of Ukrainian resistance, a capitulation following which Kyiv would hand over territories, give up at least part of its decision-making independence, and remain constantly vulnerable to Russia, without well-equipped armed forces and without security guarantees.
LOCAL CONTEXT/ETHOS: Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has stated that he sees no role for Europe in the peace talks on ending the war in Ukraine, amid his talks with US officials. He stressed that if Europe intends to freeze the conflict in order to continue it later, it should not be invited to the negotiating table.
Lavrov's intervention, on the same day when his participation in the talks with an American delegation in Saudi Arabia was announced, took place against the background of controversial signals given by Washington regarding the participation of Ukraine and European states in the peace negotiations. Thus, President Trump's special envoy for the war in Ukraine, Keith Kellogg, has said that the Europeans will not be involved in the negotiations, but the Ukrainians will. Secretary of State Marco Rubio has said that Ukraine and Europe will be at the table for "real negotiations", which would mean that the initial round in Saudi Arabia is just a means to test the field.
The US's contradictory positions on the negotiations have generated concern in both Ukraine and Europe, especially as they have been doubled by other statements/actions by high-ranking US officials. Thus, the US has requested exploitation rights for hundreds of billions of dollars worth of Ukrainian mineral resources but refused to provide security guarantees in exchange for them. The US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth said that Ukraine would have to give up its territories and NATO aspirations — which is exactly Russia's position — and Vice President J.D. Vance launched a scathing attack on European democracies, which included voicing his support for Germany's far-right AfD. Adding to all this has been the increasingly explicit support of Elon Musk, a close associate of Trump and a member of his team, to various European extremists, from Great Britain and Germany to Romania.
