Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov signaled on Tuesday that Moscow would continue military action to achieve its goals in Ukraine if diplomatic efforts fail to produce a settlement, accusing the West of obstructing what he described as reasonable and balanced initiatives.
Negotiations or the battlefield
In an interview with the online channel Sama Menshova, Lavrov said Russia prefers to achieve its goals at the negotiating table, but will achieve them on the battlefield if Western diplomacy is limited to obstructing settlement initiatives. In this context, he cited the Anchorage summit and previous statements by President Vladimir Putin.
The Russian minister accused the West of seeking to weaken and dismantle his country in order to control its resources, saying it had miscalculated. He linked this to Western positions that he said had targeted Russia at various stages of history, from the era of the Russian Empire through the Soviet Union and to the current state.
Claim about Duma election observers
In a separate matter, Lavrov said Moscow had received information that the European Union had secretly begun preparing special observers to monitor Russian State Duma elections. The report gave no details about the identity of the observers or how they would operate, nor did it include a response from the European Union to the claim.
Mediation stalls as fighting continues
Mediation efforts launched by Washington led to several rounds of talks between Moscow and Kyiv during 2025, without producing results. The process later stalled as both sides largely held to their positions, particularly over a dispute concerning territories in eastern Ukraine that Russia is demanding to annex.
Alongside new talks, Putin announced a three-day halt to strikes on Kyiv, from Saturday through the end of Monday, while Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced a halt to attacks on Moscow during the same period. Nevertheless, fighting continued in other areas of Russia and Ukraine.
UN warning over autonomous weapons
The United Nations says Russia's invasion of Ukraine has killed at least 15,000 civilians. UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk also voiced grave concern on Monday over reports that people in Ukraine had been killed by fully autonomous drones, calling for an urgent ban on lethal weapons that operate without human intervention.
