Russia’s Lavrov: Ukraine Peace Plan, U.N. Bid to Revive Black Sea Grain Deal “Not Realistic”

Reuters

12:20 JST, September 24, 2023

UNITED NATIONS, Sept 23 (Reuters) – Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Saturday that Ukraine’s proposed peace plan as well as the latest U.N. proposals to revive the Black Sea grain initiative were both “not realistic.”

Lavrov spoke at a press conference after a week of intense global diplomacy at the annual gathering of world leaders at U.N. headquarters in New York where Ukraine and its Western allies sought to drum up support for Kyiv.

“It is completely not feasible,” Lavrov said of a 10-point peace blueprint promoted by Kyiv. “It is not possible to implement this. It’s not realistic and everybody understands this, but at the same time, they say this is the only basis for negotiations.”

He said the conflict would be resolved on the battlefield if Kyiv and its Western allies stick to that stance.

Lavrov added that Moscow left the Black Sea grain initiative because promises made to Russia – including on removing sanctions on a Russian bank and reconnecting it to the global SWIFT system – had not been met.

He said the latest U.N. proposals to revive that export corridor for Ukrainian agricultural products were “simply not realistic.”