Lavrov Tells NBC Interview, Agenda for a Putin-Zelenskyy Meeting Not Ready

Aug. 24—Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, in an interview with NBC News recorded Aug. 22, said no meeting has been set up between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian dictator Volodymyr Zelenskyy. The full interview is expected to be broadcast today.

“Putin is ready to meet with Zelenskyy when the agenda is ready for a summit, and this agenda is not ready at all,” he told “Meet the Press” moderator Kristen Welker. “President Putin said clearly that he is ready to meet, provided this meeting is really going to have an agenda, presidential agenda,” Lavrov said. “President Trump suggested, after Anchorage, several points which we share and on some of them, we agreed to be … to show some flexibility.”

“When President Trump brought … those issues to the meeting in Washington, it was very clear to everybody that there are several principles which Washington believes must be accepted, including no NATO membership, including the discussion of territorial issues, and Zelenskyy said no to everything,” Lavrov continued. “He even said no to, as I said, canceling [Ukrainian] legislation prohibiting the Russian language. How can we meet with a person who is pretending to be a leader?”