Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov stated that Moscow will not return occupied territories to Ukraine, rejecting a U.S. proposal to exchange small parts of the Sumy and Kharkiv regions. The Kremlin also considers informal agreements from the Alaska negotiations as invalid. The meeting with U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio is scheduled for July 23 in Manila, according to a report.
This report updates The Zioneer's earlier bulletin on the scheduled Lavrov-Rubio meeting in Manila. According to a report, Lavrov stated that Russia will not return occupied territories to Ukraine, rejecting any exchange of small parts of the Sumy and Kharkiv regions that American mediators had proposed. The Kremlin also considers informal agreements reached in Alaska during previous negotiations with the United States as invalid, and intends to keep the occupied territories as a buffer zone.
The meeting, set for July 23, is expected to address the war in Ukraine. As The Zioneer reported earlier today, the meeting was confirmed by Lavrov. The Alaska talks in late June had led to informal understandings that now appear to have collapsed. The Russian position signals a hardening of demands ahead of the meeting.
- StrongLavrov says he will meet US Secretary of State Rubio on Thursday in Manila
- DevelopingRussia's Lavrov says Moscow ready to resume talks with Ukraine
- StrongRubio says no agreement reached in Anchorage talks with Moscow
- DevelopingLavrov: Putin compromised on Ukraine at August Alaska meeting with Trump
Source and signal
A single-sourced dispatch is never rated Confirmed or Strong. Its Signal strengthens only when a second, independent source corroborates it.
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