Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has said that Russia is ready to consider a possible meeting between Vladimir Putin and US President Joe Biden at the next G20, to be held in November in Indonesia.
Ukraine, Lavrov: “Never refused an appointment”
“We have said several times that we never refuse to organize meetings. If a proposal is made to us, we will consider it,” Lavrov said, also adding that “to date there has been no serious proposal from the United States for talks on Ukraine.”
“It’s not Zelensky who decides”
The Russian minister called out US allegations that Moscow refuses to participate in war talks and has returned to talk about nuclear energy. In this regard, the Kremlin’s position envisages “retaliatory measures exclusively to prevent the annihilation of Russia”. Finally he explains that he does not want to speak to Zelensky because it is not he who decides.
Ukraine, Moscow announces new countermeasures against the West
Meanwhile, Moscow continues its escalation in Ukraine and Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov has announced new countermeasures due to growing US and European involvement in the war. “The ongoing large-scale assistance to kyiv, the training of personnel of the armed formations of Ukraine on the territory of the countries of the Alliance, the provision of intelligence and satellite images in real time”, are the Western aid to kyiv which Moscow conflicts.
NATO nuclear exercise
NATO Secretary Jens Stoltenberg said the 30 countries will hold “a routine exercise that takes place every year to keep our nuclear deterrent safe and effective” next week. The formation’s codename is Steadfast Noon, meaning constant noon, as opposed to midnight, which indicates a nuclear disaster.
The exercise will be managed by the United States, the United Kingdom and France. “We would send a very bad message if we suddenly canceled a routine exercise, which had been planned for some time, because the war in Ukraine is ongoing,” the secretary-general explained during a press conference in Brussels, adding that the Putin’s nuclear rhetoric is “irresponsible”. and that Moscow “knows that a nuclear war would not win and should never be fought”.