Brussels – Kallas: Lavrov’s statements show Moscow is not interested in peace

Following a meeting of EU defense ministers in Brussels, Kallas said Lavrov’s comments show Russia is not at all interested in peace.

According to her, this is now very, very clear to everyone.

Wadephul and Lavrov met on Saturday on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York.

It was the first direct meeting between the foreign ministers of the two countries since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

After the meeting, Lavrov made several critical comments about the conversation with Wadephul.

He said the meeting had left him with the impression that the German minister’s implied message was “I have deigned to come to you.”

Kallas argued that, if Moscow were seriously interested in ending the conflict, the Russian minister would have treated his German counterpart differently.

Wadephul, for his part, described the conversation as intensive.

He said they had discussed the war in Ukraine as well as the drone laden with explosives found at Leipzig airport in August.

Official Berlin has blamed Moscow for the incident, while Russia has dismissed the accusation.

The German Foreign Ministry also accused Moscow of using the New York meeting for propaganda purposes.

A spokesperson said Germany was aware of the propaganda value of a face-to-face meeting, which the Russian side had exploited and continued to exploit.

However, the German spokesperson defended the decision to hold the meeting, saying it was reasonable at this stage to have a direct conversation so that Germany could once again clearly convey its positions, according to ATSH-DPA.