Sergey Lavrov says that he sees no reason for territorial concessions from russia

The Minister of Foreign Affairs of the aggressor country russia, Sergey Lavrov, said that the russian federation sees no reason to make territorial concessions within the framework of a possible peaceful settlement in Ukraine.

He announced this during a press conference on the eve of the planned talks in Saudi Arabia. Radio Svoboda reported this, citing the kremlin press service.

The statement was made against the backdrop of preparations for the U.S.-russian talks in Riyadh on February 18, which will be attended by U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and the russian delegation led by Lavrov. Ukraine was not invited to participate in these talks.

"Do you want <…> the idea that some territories still need to be conceded during the settlement negotiations to be present? How should we concede them – with Russian people or without people, with rare earth metals alone?" Lavrov said.

The occupation country's chief diplomat also added that before discussing territorial issues, it is necessary to "deal with" the situation of the russian language in Ukraine and lift the ban on the UOC of the moscow Patriarchate, calling it a "gross violation of international conventions."

"If we are talking about serious diplomacy, it is better to first understand the history of the issue, to see why the Russian language is banned in all spheres of life in Ukraine, why the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church is banned there (this is a gross violation of numerous conventions and Article 1 of the UN Charter), and to understand why in none of the numerous initiatives that have been heard so far from different parts of the world does anyone mention these human rights enshrined in the UN Charter. They only say that territorial concessions are needed. For what?"said Lavrov.

After a clarifying question whether he considers territorial concessions from the russian federation possible, Lavrov refused to answer, noting that he "has already answered".

The russian minister also expressed doubts about the advisability of the participation of European countries in peace talks, accusing them of intentions to "freeze the conflict" in order to rearm Ukraine.

Earlier, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that Ukraine will never recognize the occupied territories as part of the russian federation. As is known, russia currently holds Crimea and significant territories in the Luhansk, Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia, Kherson, Mykolaiv, and Kharkiv Regions of Ukraine under occupation.

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