Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has once again questioned Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s legitimacy, demanding that Ukraine holds a presidential election before the signing of a peace agreement to end the three-year-war.
Lavrov, speaking at the Diplomatic Academy in Moscow, reiterated Russian President Vladimir Putin’s remarks that Zelenskiy does not possess legitimacy” as a president.
"A future peace agreement is to prevent a repetition of what the coup plotters did to seize power in 2014. Then we will look at who has legitimacy from the Ukrainian authorities. The current constitution [of Ukraine] supposedly allows for talk about the speaker of the Verkhovna Rada, but the optimal option would be holding elections," Sergey Lavrov said.
Lavrov reiterated Russian President Vladimir Putin’s remarks that Zelenskiy does not possess legitimacy” as a president.
Responding to the question whether the Kremlin was ready to sign a peace agreement with Ukraine, Lavrov said: "You are putting the cart before the horse. First you have to have a treaty, and when it is agreed, we will decide. But President Zelenskiy, as President Putin has repeatedly said, does not have legitimacy. This is recognized inside Ukraine as well."
Lavrov also cast doubt over the Vatican as a potential venue for peace talks, stressing that the holy city was not an appropriate place for negotiations. Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said this week that Pope Leo XIV had confirmed his willingness to host talks between the two countries.
"Many people are fantasizing about when and where [the meeting] will take place. We don't have any ideas right now," Lavrov said.
Russia has been dragging its feet over peace negotiations with Ukraine despite claiming it was ready to hold peace negotiations to end the war. The talks have yielded no results as Putin has repeatedly rejected the US-proposed 30-day ceasefire, which has been accepted by Ukraine.
