Russia offered to upgrade negotiating format with Ukraine, FM says

Russia proposed significantly upgrading the level of leadership of the negotiating delegations in talks with Ukraine and creating three specialised working groups, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has stated.

Speaking at the Primakov Readings International Scientific and Expert Forum, Lavrov said negotiations stalled a year ago after the Ukrainian side expressed dissatisfaction with the format of the talks, Caliber.Az reports, citing Russian media.

“Everything came to a halt a year ago when, during another round of negotiations, the Ukrainians said: ‘This is a rather weak negotiation format because the heads of the delegations are of a low level and are dealing only with humanitarian issues,’” the minister noted.

“We heard that and replied: ‘All right, we understand.’ We proposed substantially raising the level of the delegations’ leadership — I cannot say to what level, but very significantly — and suggested establishing three working groups: one on humanitarian issues, one on political matters, and one on military issues,” Lavrov added.

Lavrov also said that a visit by US special envoy Steve Witkoff and US President Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner is under discussion, adding that the Russian side is prepared to hear their proposals.

By Bakhtiyar Abbasov