British News Agency

Commenting on recent media reports about the U.S. plan and statements by EU politicians on Sputnik Radio, Zakharova said: “This is not about scoring points. It’s not about mobilizing the masses to strengthen one’s position. It is, first of all, about sabotaging a political and diplomatic solution, and secondly, about manipulating the situation for their own purposes. Manipulating the situation on this basis is essentially aimed at blocking any possibility of a political and diplomatic resolution.”

Zakharova added that Europeans “lock their jaws” the moment they hear words such as “peace plan”, “negotiations” or “contacts”, as if such notions are against their nature.

On Tuesday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov emphasized that Europe failed to seize the opportunity to contribute to resolving the Ukrainian crisis.

According to Lavrov, Russia values the position of the United States — the only Western country taking initiative toward a solution. However, those attempting to create noise around the peace plan aim to undermine President Donald Trump’s efforts and reshape the plan in accordance with their own image. Meanwhile, Moscow expects Washington to endorse the document in a version it considers a temporary agreement with Brussels and Kyiv.

Lavrov stressed that every time progress has been made in this field, the agreements have been disrupted, stating: “France or Germany cannot act as mediators in resolving the Ukrainian issue; Belarus and Turkey can play that role.”