A new round of talks between Moscow and Kiev will take place, but the Vatican is not “a very realistic” venue, the Russian Foreign Minister has said
Moscow is at an “advanced stage” in preparing a memorandum that outlines steps toward a potential peace agreement with Ukraine, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Friday.
Addressing a conference in Moscow, Lavrov reiterated Moscow’s readiness to continue dialogue with Kiev, following the resumption of talks in Istanbul earlier this month after a three-year pause.
"Yes, we support the idea of talks. There will be a second round of negotiations. They [the Ukrainian side] have confirmed this. This is already a positive development,” he said.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Monday that he had agreed with US President Donald Trump that the next move toward resolving the Ukraine conflict should be a memorandum outlining the principles and timeline for a peace settlement.
When asked about the progress in preparing the memorandum, the Russian foreign minister said: “I don’t know about the other side, but our work is already at an advanced stage. And in any case, we will hand over this memorandum to the Ukrainians, as we agreed, and we will expect that they will do the same.”
The timeframe for the next meeting between the Russian and Ukrainian delegations has “not yet been determined,” he said.
“Many people are speculating about when and where it might happen. We do not have any ideas at the moment,” Lavrov added.
Lavrov noted the offer from the Vatican, supported by Trump, to host further talks between Moscow and Kiev, but described the likelihood as “not very realistic.”
“Well, it is a little awkward, I would say. When Orthodox countries are using a Catholic platform to discuss issues related to eliminating root causes [of the conflict between them],” Lavrov said.
“One of those root causes is the course towards the destruction of the [canonical] Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC)” by the government in Kiev, the minister noted.
Kiev has accused the UOC of maintaining ties to Russia, despite the church’s formal declaration of independence from the Moscow Patriarchate in May 2022. The crackdown has included multiple arrests of clergy and raids on church properties. One of the most high-profile incidents occurred in the catacombs of the Kiev Pechersk Lavra, where sacred relics are housed.
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