Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov maintains that his country wants the war in Ukraine “finish it as soon as possible” and blames Kyiv and the West for failing to contribute to a “lasting” solution to the conflict.

“It is clear that we are interested in ending the Ukrainian conflict as soon as possible“, Lavrov said this Monday at a press conference from Brazil, after meeting with his Brazilian counterpart, Mauro Vieira. “We have already explained in detail on many occasions the reasons for what is happening, the objectives that we pursue in this regard”, has added.

The head of Russian diplomacy has also maintained that Moscow wants a “lasting” solution to the conflict, but that neither the Ukrainian government nor the West “contribute” to that goal. “We need to resolve the conflict in a lasting way, not immediately,” he stated, assuring that the “NATO and the West” countries have not fulfilled “commitments they made” at the beginning of this century, he has pointed out, in apparent allusion to the Minsk agreements of 2014.

On the other hand, Lavrov thanked Vieira for the Brazil’s rejection of sanctions imposed on Russia by several countries after the invasion and has assured that these are the product of an “illegal decision”, since it has not been approved by the UN Security Council.

In this regard, Vieira has stressed the tradition of Brazilian diplomacy of supporting them only when they have the backing of the Security Council and added that, in this case and in the current global situation, “they have had an impact on the entire global economy, which He still hasn’t recovered from the pandemic.”

The Brazilian Minister of Foreign Affairs has also reiterated Brazil’s position regarding the need for an immediate ceasefire and the formation of a group of friendly countries to attempt mediationbut this possibility, although it has been appreciated by Lavrov, has not been addressed in depth by the Russian minister.

Brazil is Lavrov’s first stop on a tour that, over the next few days, will also take him to Venezuela, Cuba and Nicaragua, three countries that maintain intense economic and political relations with Russia.