Russia’s foreign minister, Sergey V. Lavrov, and the country’s state-run news media on Tuesday played down the prospect of a direct meeting between the leaders of Russia and Ukraine, a day after President Trump said that he had initiated steps for a bilateral meeting between them.
Russian state news media barely mentioned the possible meeting in coverage of Monday’s talks between Mr. Trump, President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine and European leaders at the White House. Instead, reporters and commentators largely portrayed the meetings as proof that Mr. Trump was nudging Mr. Zelensky and European leaders to accept Russia’s terms to end the war.
In an interview on state-run television on Tuesday, Mr. Lavrov said that while Russia was not against a bilateral meeting between Mr. Zelensky and President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia in principle, “any contacts involving top officials should be prepared very carefully.”
Mr. Lavrov also referred to Mr. Zelensky dismissively as “this character” and “this man,” and suggested that the Ukrainian president must repeal laws that the Kremlin believes curtail the rights of Russian speakers in the country before entering into direct negotiations with Mr. Putin.
Mr. Lavrov’s comments suggested that Moscow may be treading a fine line to make sure it doesn’t offend Mr. Trump or undermine his efforts to bring the war to an end, and offer at least a semblance of progress.
Yuri V. Ushakov, the Kremlin’s foreign policy aide, said after Monday’s White House talks that Mr. Trump and Mr. Putin had a call in which they discussed “exploring opportunities to bring more senior officials from both Ukraine and Russia into these direct talks.” He made no mention of whether Mr. Putin himself would participate.
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