Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov said in a new interview that the United States proposal for a peace deal with Ukraine is “moving in the right direction,” but there are still details that “need to be fine-tuned.”
In a Thursday preview of an interview set to air on CBS News’s “Face the Nation” on Sunday, moderator Margaret Brennan asked the Russian diplomat about President Trump’s suggestion this week that they are “very close to a deal” and that they “should now, finally, GET IT DONE.”
“Well, the President of the United States believes — and I think rightly so — that we are moving in the right direction,” Lavrov told Brennan, when asked whether Russian President Vladimir Putin agrees with Trump’s comments.
“The statement by the president mentions a deal, and we are ready to reach a deal, but there are still some specific points — elements — of this deal which need to be fine-tuned,” he continued. “And we are busy with this exact process.”
Lavrov said Trump “did not spell out the elements of the deal, so it is not appropriate for me to do this.”
The remarks come as the Trump administration has sought to increase pressure on Russia and Ukraine to come to an agreement, warning that the U.S. will walk away from efforts to negotiate an end to the war if a resolution is not reached soon.
Vice President Vance reiterated that threat on Wednesday.
“We’ve issued a very explicit proposal to both the Russians and the Ukrainians, and it’s time for them to either say yes, or for the United States to walk away from this process,” Vance said, while visiting India.
Details of the proposal have not been made public, but Trump administration officials have previewed the deal to a number of media outlets. Reports indicate that the deal would include U.S. recognition of Crimea as part of Russia, a prospect Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky flatly rejected on Wednesday.
“Ukraine will not legally recognize the occupation of Crimea,” he said. “There’s nothing to talk about here.”
Trump lashed out in response, writing on Truth Social, “This statement is very harmful to the Peace Negotiations with Russia in that Crimea was lost years ago under the auspices of President Barack Hussein Obama, and is not even a point of discussion. Nobody is asking Zelenskyy to recognize Crimea as Russian Territory but, if he wants Crimea, why didn’t they fight for it eleven years ago when it was handed over to Russia without a shot being fired?”
“The statement made by Zelenskyy today will do nothing but prolong the “killing field,” and nobody wants that!” Trump added. “We are very close to a Deal, but the man with ‘no cards to play’ should now, finally, GET IT DONE. I look forward to being able to help Ukraine, and Russia, get out of this Complete and Total MESS, that would have never started if I were President.”
Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff is headed to Moscow to meet with Putin this week. Lavrov would not confirm the meeting explicitly but, when asked what Putin will tell Witkoff during their meeting, Lavrov said, “We continue our contacts with the American side, on the situation in Ukraine.”
“There are several signs that we are moving in the right direction,” he continued. “First of all, because President Trump is probably the only leader on Earth who recognized the need to address the root causes of this situation, when he said that it was a huge mistake to pull Ukraine into NATO, and this was a mistake by Biden administration, and he wants to rectify this.”
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