Meetings on 'Zelensky’s Formula' Ignore Peace Initiatives by Brazil, South Africa: Lavrov
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Western countries are not even considering initiatives on achieving a settlement to the Ukraine conflict put forward by Brazil and South Africa at meetings dedicated to Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky’s "peace formula," Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said.
"Another meeting of the Copenhagen platform on Zelensky’s 'peace formula' has recently taken place (at the annual World Economic Forum) in Davos, where some of your countries were represented," the top Russian diplomat said at the first meeting under Moscow’s BRICS chairmanship of the intergovernmental group’s "sherpas" (senior officials who represent their respective heads of state or government in preparing for a summit) and "sous-sherpas" (other senior officials who assist the "sherpas").
"After that, I held conversations with my colleagues from a number of our friendly countries, particularly discussing the role of the Global South at those meetings," he added, TASS reported.
"I said that our South African colleagues had earlier put forward an idea that we discussed on the sidelines of the Russia-Africa Summit in St. Petersburg last July. Brazilian President Lula (da Silva) also presented an initiative and discussed it with (Russian) President (Vladimir) Putin. I asked those who took part in the Davos meeting how much attention was being paid to these initiatives from global majority countries and the answer was: 'No attention is being paid at all. No one needs any initiatives from them,'" Lavrov stated.
According to the Russian foreign minister, an approach like this "indicates a total lack of respect and complete disregard for any opinion except one’s own."
"It is plain colonialism and imperialism; we’ve been through these historical phases before," Lavrov stressed.
While addressing the G20 summit via video link in November 2022, Zelensky put forward a ten-point plan to achieve peace, which did not take Moscow’s position into consideration. The document calls for, in particular, a total withdrawal of Russian troops beyond the 1991 border and the restoration of Ukraine’s control over "the exclusive economic zone" in the Sea of Azov and the Black Sea.
Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said later that Kiev was making statements about a peaceful solution without taking the actual situation into account and that Moscow did not see any progress in the peace process around Ukraine, which was why it would continue carrying out its "special military operation" in Ukraine.
