Russian foreign minister praises Trumps effort and was defensive when asked if Putin was stringing along Trump
Russia accused western European leaders on Sunday of not wanting peace in Ukraine, as Moscows most senior diplomat praised efforts by Donald Trump to end the war, while Vice-President JD Vance said the US would keep on trying to broker talks in the absence of a deal.
Sergei Lavrov, the Russian foreign minister, made the comments during a sometimes contentious interview on NBC on Sunday morning, during which he denied his country had bombed civilian targets in Ukraine .
Trump, he said, had set himself above European leaders who accompanied Ukraines president Volodymyr Zelenskyy for talks at the White House last week, immediately after the summit between the US president and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin in Anchorage, Alaska, on 15 August.
We want peace in Ukraine. He wants, President Trump wants, peace in Ukraine. The reaction to [the] Anchorage meeting, the gathering in Washington of these European representatives and what they were doing after Washington, indicates that they dont want peace, Lavrov said.
The Alaska talks produced neither a ceasefire nor an agreement for Zelenskyy and Putin to meet, and was widely considered to be a public relations triumph for the Russian leader.
Lavrov brushed aside Trumps apparent frustration at the outcome and the US warning of massive sanctions or massive tariffs or both against Moscow. He said yes when asked if Putin wanted peace and said Putin and Trump respected each other, while assailing the alliance of leaders such as Frances Emmanuel Macron, Germanys Friedrich Merz, Britains Keir Starmer and European Union president Ursula von der Leyen who came to the White House last week to bolster Zelenskyys visit.
European leaders in recent days have pledged to support security guarantees as part of a peace agreement, although Russia has flatly rejected the prospect of troops from countries in Europe being positioned in Ukraine.
Trump has ruled out sending the US military , and on Friday it was reported that his administration had blocked Ukraines use of US-supplied long-range missiles to attack Russia.
Meanwhile, Canadian prime minister Mark Carney told Zelenskyy on Sunday that he backed Ukraines calls for robust security guarantees and that Canada would not rule out sending troops.
Earlier, Lavrov became defensive when NBC asked him if Putin was stringing along Trump by appearing conciliatory to his peace overtures but continuing to bomb Ukraine, attacks which last week included an airstrike on an American electronics manufacturing company in the west of the country.
It is not for the lawmakers or for any media outlet to decide what President Trump is motivated by. We respect President Trump because President Trump defends American national interests. And I have reason to believe that President Trump respects President Putin because he defends Russian national interests, he said.
Critics, including some conservative voices, are alarmed by what they see as Putin manipulating Trump over Ukraine and US elections.
Lavrov meanwhile denied that Russia attacks civilian targets including schools, hospitals and churches, hinting at Russias extraordinary claims throughout the war that Ukraine is attacking its own people.
Our intelligence has very good information, and we target only military enterprises, military sites or industrial enterprises directly involved in producing military equipment for [the] Ukrainian army, he said.
Vance appeared separately in the same Sunday morning program and insisted Russia deserved credit for indicating it was ready to end a conflict that Trump has said more than 50 times he would solve in one day, while in contrast the vice-president warned of a longer process.
I think the Russians have made significant concessions to President Trump for the first time in three and a half years of this conflict, Vance said.
Theyve recognized that theyre not going to be able to install a puppet regime in Kyiv. That was, of course, a major demand at the beginning. And importantly, theyve acknowledged that there is going to be some security guarantee to the territorial integrity of Ukraine.
Vance said historically that peace negotiations go in fits and starts and warned that he did not think ending the war was going to happen overnight.
Vance said of Russia, in a comment that was not further clarified: Should they have started the war? Of course, they havent. But were making progress. Trump in February blamed Ukraine , saying, you never should have started it.
Any sanctions against Russia, Vance said, would be on a case by case basis, but he remained hopeful that US efforts could bring Zelenskyy and Putin together.
Its complicated, but were going to keep on trying to convince these parties to talk to each other and continue to play the game of diplomacy, because thats the only way to get this thing wrapped up.
Lavrov remained adamant that Russia also wanted peace, and acknowledged Ukraine has the right to exist. But he said it must let people go, referring to Putins demand that it give up Crimea, the Ukrainian peninsula seized by Russia in 2014, as well as southern and eastern parts, such as the Donbas, captured since 2022, as part of a peace agreement.
In Crimea [they] decided that they belong to the Russian culture, he said, citing a disputed 2014 referendum condemned by most of the world as illegal.
On Friday, Senator Chris Coons, a Democrat of Connecticut, said on CNN that stronger US action was needed because Putin is not going to stop until we stop him.
Reuters contributed reporting
俄罗斯外长赞扬特朗普的努力，并在被问及普京是否在'戏弄'特朗普时表现得很防备。
俄罗斯周日指责西欧国家领导人无意促成乌克兰和平，与此同时，莫斯科最高级别外交官赞扬唐纳德·特朗普为结束战争所做的努力，而美国副总统JD·万斯表示，在未达成协议的情况下，美国将'继续尝试'斡旋谈判。
俄罗斯外交部长谢尔盖·拉夫罗夫在周日早晨接受美国全国广播公司（NBC）采访时发表了上述言论。这场访谈时而充满火药味，期间他否认俄军曾轰炸乌克兰的民用目标。
他表示，特朗普将自己凌驾于陪同乌克兰总统弗拉基米尔·泽连斯基上周赴白宫会谈的欧洲领导人之上。此次会谈紧接在8月15日美国总统与俄罗斯总统弗拉基米尔·普京于阿拉斯加安克雷奇举行的峰会之后。
拉夫罗夫表示：“我们希望在乌克兰实现和平。他——特朗普总统也希望乌克兰和平。但从（欧洲代表）安克雷奇会议、华盛顿集会及会后的行动来看，他们的反应表明这些人并不渴望和平。”
阿拉斯加会谈既未达成停火协议，也未促成泽连斯基与普京会晤，但外界普遍认为这是俄罗斯总统在公关层面的一次胜利。
拉夫罗夫对特朗普在相关结果上表现出的不满以及美国对莫斯科发出'大规模制裁或高额关税或两者兼施'的警告不予理会。当被问及普京是否希望和平时，他回答'是的'，并称普京与特朗普相互尊重。与此同时，他抨击了法国总统马克龙、德国梅尔茨、英国斯塔默及欧盟主席冯德莱恩等领导人组成的联盟——这些领导人上周齐聚白宫，为泽连斯基的访问造势。
近日，欧洲各国领导人承诺将支持为和平协议提供安全保障，尽管俄罗斯断然拒绝了欧洲国家军队驻扎乌克兰的可能性。
特朗普已排除派遣美军的可能性，周五有报道称，其政府阻止乌克兰使用美国提供的远程导弹攻击俄罗斯。
与此同时，加拿大总理马克·卡尼（Mark Carney）周日向泽连斯基（Zelenskyy）表示，他支持乌克兰要求获得有力安全保障的呼吁，且加拿大不排除派遣军队的可能性。
此前，当美国全国广播公司（NBC）问及普京是否一边对特朗普的和平倡议表现出和解姿态，一边又持续轰炸乌克兰（上周的袭击包括对乌克兰西部一家美国电子制造公司的空袭），以此‘敷衍’特朗普时，拉夫罗夫显得戒备十足。
立法者或任何媒体都无权判定特朗普总统的动机。我们尊重特朗普总统，因为他捍卫美国的国家利益。我有理由相信，特朗普总统尊重普京总统，因为后者也在捍卫俄罗斯的国家利益。
包括一些保守派人士在内的批评者，对普京在乌克兰问题和美国大选中操纵特朗普的行为感到震惊。
拉夫罗夫同时否认俄罗斯袭击包括学校、医院和教堂在内的民用目标，暗示俄罗斯在这场战争中一直声称乌克兰在攻击本国人民的离奇说法。
他表示："我们的情报非常准确，且仅针对军事企业、军事基地或直接为乌克兰军队生产军事装备的工业企业。"
万斯（Vance）在同一档周日早间节目中单独露面，坚称俄罗斯值得肯定，因其已表态愿意结束这场冲突——而特朗普曾50多次宣称自己能在“一天之内”解决该问题。与之形成对比的是，副总统则警告称解决过程可能更为漫长。
万斯表示：“我认为，在这场冲突持续三年半后，俄罗斯人首次向特朗普总统作出了重大让步。”
他们已意识到无法在基辅建立傀儡政权——这原本是他们最初的主要诉求。更重要的是，他们承认未来将为乌克兰的领土完整提供某种安全保障。
万斯表示，从历史上看，和平谈判总是断断续续地进行，并警告称，他认为战争不会在一夜之间结束。
万斯在谈及俄罗斯时发表了一段未进一步澄清的评论："他们本不该发动这场战争吗？当然不该。但我们正在取得进展。"而特朗普则在今年2月指责乌克兰称："你们当初就不该挑起冲突。"
万斯表示，针对俄罗斯的任何制裁都将采取“逐案处理”的方式，但他仍对美国能促成泽连斯基与普京的和谈抱有希望。
“局势虽复杂，但我们将继续努力说服各方展开对话，坚持外交博弈，因为这是解决问题的唯一途径。”
拉夫罗夫坚称俄罗斯同样渴望和平，并承认‘乌克兰有权存在’。但他表示乌克兰‘必须释放民众’，这指的是普京提出的要求——作为和平协议的一部分，乌克兰需放弃克里米亚（2014年被俄罗斯占领的乌半岛）以及自2022年以来被俄控制的南部和东部地区，例如顿巴斯。
他援引2014年那场备受争议的公投称：“克里米亚（民众）认定自己属于俄罗斯文化。”该公投被国际社会普遍谴责为非法。
周五，康涅狄格州民主党参议员克里斯·库恩斯（Chris Coons）在美国有线电视新闻网（CNN）上表示，美国需要采取更强有力的行动，因为“普京不会停止，除非我们阻止他”。
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