Russia calls Ukraine conflict 'War with West'; accuses UK, US of blocking peace deal

Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on Tuesday labelled the war in Ukraine as a conflict between Moscow and the West as he accused the United States and the UK of “blocking” the peace deal talks by manipulating the Ukrainian delegation in Istanbul. Speaking at an educational forum in Moscow on May 17, Lavrov publicly accused the United States and the United Kingdom of “exerting influence” over the Ukrainian negotiators and hindering the talks to allegedly "prolong the ongoing war" to kill more Russian soldiers.

At the forum, Lavrov iterated that Ukraine may have found some "acceptable principles for reaching agreements” as negotiations were being held between the Russian and Ukrainian delegations. But the Western allies “did not support the terms” and had played a major role in manipulating the Ukrainian officials. Lavrov went on to accuse the UK and the US of pushing Ukraine into the conflict, as he said that the war in Ukraine was "declared" by the West. The armed conflict said Lavrov, “is not at all between Ukraine and Russia, but between the West and Russia.” Russia’s foreign minister made wide-ranging claims that Washington and London were leading Ukraine talks and that neither country had "put forward any proposals."

"We have information coming through various channels that Washington and especially London 'lead' the Ukrainian negotiators and control their freedom of manoeuvre," Lavrov said, according to RT. 

"They want to drag out the conflict, and it seems to them that the longer it will last, the more damage they will inflict on Russian servicemen,” he added. 

'No negotiations are not going on..'

Russia’s Deputy Foreign Minister Andrey Rudenko had also claimed earlier that Ukraine had stalled the peace negotiation over Western influence. "No negotiations are not going on. Ukraine has practically withdrawn from the negotiation process," Rudenko said, according to Russia’s state-affiliated news agency Interfax. Kyiv has abandoned the peace talks and quit the negotiations, Russia’s Deputy Foreign Minister Rudenko claimed on the sidelines of the 2nd Central Asian conference of the international discussion club Valdai. "The talks are not continuing. Ukraine has quit the process of negotiations,” he informed. He also stressed that Ukraine has not responded to the draft treaty Russia had proposed. "The Ukrainian side displayed no interest in a constructive dialogue,” meanwhile Russia’s President Vladimir Putin said on the phone with his Finnish counterpart Sauli Niinisto earlier.