Lavrov rejects temporary Ukraine ceasefires and says Moscow will only accept a settlement addressing the war’s “root causes”

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov rejected proposals for temporary or sector-specific ceasefires in Ukraine on Tuesday, saying Moscow would only support a settlement that it believes addresses the underlying causes of the conflict.

Speaking at the Fourth Minsk International Conference on Eurasian Security, Lavrov dismissed proposals for energy, food, air and maritime ceasefires, arguing that previous pauses had failed to produce lasting peace.

“They call for an energy ceasefire, a food ceasefire, an air ceasefire, a maritime ceasefire,” Lavrov said. “None of this is intended to achieve peace. We have been convinced of this repeatedly.”

“We insist not on a temporary ceasefire,” he added. “We insist on reliably eliminating the root causes of the crisis.”

Ukraine and several Western governments have backed partial or comprehensive ceasefire proposals, including reciprocal limits on attacks against energy infrastructure. Kyiv has said it is prepared for a full and unconditional ceasefire and has accused Moscow of using negotiations to prolong the war.

Lavrov also criticized proposals associated with Britain and France to freeze fighting along the current line of contact and deploy international stabilization forces in Ukraine.

“What are they going to stabilize?” he asked, before describing the Ukrainian government as an “openly Nazi regime,” a characterization repeatedly used by Moscow and rejected by Ukraine and its Western allies.

Lavrov argued that Western governments had violated commitments to the principle of “indivisible security” set out through the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe in Istanbul in 1999 and Astana in 2010.

He accused NATO of expanding eastward at Russia’s expense and said the West had ultimately “unleashed a war against our country through the Kyiv regime.” That reflects Moscow’s account of the conflict; Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

Lavrov said Moscow remained willing to engage with governments that abandoned what he called hostile policies but saw little immediate prospect for renewed dialogue with Europe.

“We will not impose ourselves on anyone,” he said. “And as people who respect themselves, we will not chase after anyone. For now, however, there is no realistic prospect of dialogue with Europe.”

He separately warned that discussions were underway over what he described as a NATO-style military-political bloc in Asia, which he called an “Indo-Pacific Treaty Organization.” Lavrov did not identify a government formally proposing such an alliance, and no such organization has been announced.