By Ben Kerrigan-
Peace talks with Ukraine must focus on “creating a new world order,” Kremlin has today said as Vladimir Putin’s troops made gains in Bakhmut.
Russia’s foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, (pictured)said on Friday during a news conference with his Turkish counterpart, Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu, that obstacles to Russian agricultural exports were increasing, and that they had discussed what Lavrov described as a “failure” to implement the terms of the Black Sea grain initiative. Çavuşoğlu said he agreed with Russia on the need to lift restrictions on Russian grain and fertiliser exports before the deal could be extended further
Ukraine said on Friday that Russia was concentrating all its efforts on capturing the eastern city of Bakhmut, where it described the situation as “difficult” but said it was holding out despite Russia’s numerical superiority. Eastern Military Command spokesperson Serhiy Cherevatyi said that Ukraine controlled the situation in Bakhmut, understood Russian intentions and that Moscow had tactical success in some places but was paying a high price for it.
Russia has long said it was leading a struggle against US dominance over the international stage, and argues the Ukraine offensive is part of that fight. The Kremlin said this week it had no choice but to continue its offensive, seeing no diplomatic solution
Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov said: “Any negotiation needs to be based on taking into account Russian interests, Russian concerns.”
Agence France-Presse also quoted him as saying: “It should be about the principles on which the new world order will be based.”
It come as the UK defence ministry earlier said that Russian forces have very likely advanced to the centre of the fiercely contested city of Bakhmut in eastern Ukraine.
This morning, British intelligence confirmed that Moscow has seized the west bank of the Bakhmuta River, threatening a key supply route for Ukrainian forces to the west.
Ukraine described the situation as “difficult” but said it was holding out despite Russia‘s numerical superiority.
“I thank Sergey and the Russian Federation for hosting the quadrilateral meeting. We are aware that this is an issue that cannot be solved through just one meeting. We are realistic but we need to continue the dialogue. We will remain engaged with Russia for close consultation for the normalization process with Syria.”
On the Syria-Türkiye talks, Lavrov said both sides had their own rightful interests and as mediators, Russia looked at the process that way. He said preparations were underway for a ministerial-level quadrilateral meeting for the normalization of Turkish-Syrian ties and they have been discussing a date.
Deputy foreign ministers of Türkiye, Iran, Syria and Russia met in Moscow earlier this week for normalization talks between the two neighbors. Iran and Russia are major backers of Syria’s Assad regime since the beginning of the civil war in 2011. The meeting was a prelude to a higher-level meeting between foreign ministers of the countries. Russia’s long-standing effort to open a channel of dialogue between Türkiye and the Bashar Assad regime paid off last year, as the defense ministers and intelligence chiefs of Türkiye, Russia and the Assad regime met in Moscow on Dec. 28.
Russia has long lost credibility with both the western public and the the western media, and is notorious for propagandist news and lies.
Russian leaders had openly lied before its invasion of Ukraine, denying widespread speculation of its plans to invade the country, despite observations it was planning to do so.
Putin has been accused of war crimes, especially as his soldiers have killed numerous innocent civilians during the bloody war.
Multiple Russian oligarchs were heavily sanctioned during the beginning of the war.