Russia needs to be forced to engage in diplomacy, Ukraine says, after Putin’s Foreign Minister poured cold water on the idea of peace talks being imminent while blaming President Volodymyr Zelensky of refusing to cooperate.

Russian President Vladimir Putin is “ready to meet” so long as an agenda to Russia’s liking is set out beforehand but Ukraine is refusing to accept any of Moscow’s “points”, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov complained on Friday. Speaking to NBC, the veteran Russian diplomat — who has served the Kremlin since the time of the Soviet Union — said Zelensky’s behaivour made it impossible to countenance a meeting because the Ukrainian is “pretending to be a leader”.

Lavrov told the network, while belittling the host for failing to comprehend the points he believed he was ma

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