Russia says Ukraine thwarts progress by trying to engage NATO

Foreign Minister RussianSergei Lavrov said on Saturday that the president’s attempt ukrainianVolodymyr Zelensky to enlist the direct help of the NATO in the conflict between their countries is not helping the talks between both sides.

“Mr. Zelensky’s constant angry statements do not increase optimism,” Lavrov told reporters on Saturday.

In particular, he cited Zelensky’s strong criticism on Friday of the Western military alliance for refusing to intervene in the conflict by preventing Russian missiles and warplanes from passing through Ukrainian airspace.

“My question is: if you are so upset that NATO has not intervened on your behalf as you expected, do you expect to resolve the conflict by involving NATO in all this, and not through talks?” Lavrov said.

Earlier, his Ukrainian counterpart Dmytro Kuleba said he is open to talking with Lavrov, but only if they are “meaningful” talks.

Russia invaded Ukraine by land, sea and air on February 24, in what it calls a “special military operation.”

The Russian and Ukrainian delegations have held two rounds of talks, the last on Thursday, after which they said they agreed on the need to create humanitarian corridors to evacuate civilians, but not much else.

Lavrov said that Moscow is ready for a third round, but has not received new dates from the Ukrainian side, which, according to him, invents pretexts to delay the process.

“Vladimir Putin keeps all his money with the oligarchs,” said William Browder, an American-born, London-based financier and human rights activist. Browder was once a major investor in Russia, but ran into trouble with the government in the late 2000s.

Germany’s Economy Ministry said the government was in the process of “quickly and effectively implementing Russia’s sanctions” but declined to say publicly what, if any, assets had been seized.

French authorities have so far seized a yacht linked to Igor Sechin — a Putin ally who runs Russian oil giant Rosneft — in the Mediterranean resort of La Ciotat, where it arrived in January for repairs. French officials said Thursday that the crew was preparing for an urgent departure when agents arrived, even as repairs were still underway.

Britain, long a haven for oligarchs, is under pressure to do more. A Putin confidant, Roman Abramovich, owner of the Chelsea soccer club, said this week that he would put it up for sale. It has not been sanctioned, but opposition politicians and members of Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s party have asked why not.

Britain has frozen the assets of people on its own list and is making changes to the law to make it easier to prosecute those on allied country lists after criticism it has been too slow to act. Even so, it will take a long time to unravel their assets, as many are in shell companies.