Lavrov: Russia Open to US Deals, Rules Out Political Concessions
Addressing university graduates who recently entered Russia’s diplomatic service, Lavrov said Moscow would judge any offer on its economic and financial merits.
“We shall see what they propose. If they offer something that is economically and financially advantageous to us, then why not?” he said.
Any deal, he stressed, must carry no political concessions and no expectation of political favors in international affairs.
“We must rely solely on ourselves,” he added.
Lavrov also addressed US President Donald Trump’s decision to waive key Russia-related sanctions. He said Trump had not dropped the tariff measure but had signaled that sweeping duties were not in Washington’s interests at this stage.
“What they need right now (though he didn’t explicitly say it, everyone understands) is to ensure that global energy markets don’t spiral into a deep crisis ahead of the elections. And so, they are fine with Russian diesel fuel continuing to be supplied,” he said.
He cautioned that Washington’s stance could shift under a future administration, noting that US presidents are not bound by their predecessors’ decisions.
Kremlin developments came earlier in the day. Spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said Moscow hoped Witkoff and Kushner would meet President Vladimir Putin soon. The Kremlin expects the envoys to brief Putin on their contacts with Ukrainian and European representatives and to continue talks between Moscow and Washington, he said.
Peskov called the envoys’ meetings with Putin “important, timely and substantive,” adding that Moscow highly valued their mediation.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said separately that Witkoff would travel to Russia on Wednesday to deliver proposals aimed at advancing peace efforts, including a possible trilateral meeting of the leaders of Ukraine, Russia and the US.
“We have some clear ideas on how to get to peace. And we are united with our European partners in this effort, and we want the Americans to take these ideas to the Russians,” he said following the meeting with US envoys and Nordic leaders in Oslo.
“One of the important ideas is to move to a potential trilateral meeting of the leaders to address the issues that only the leaders can do,” he added.
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