Russia’s Lavrov warns of ‘real’ danger of World War III

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov gestures during a joint news conference following talks with his Armenian counterpart in Moscow, on April 8, 2022. (Photo by Alexander Zemlianichenko / POOL / AFP)

 

MOSCOW, Russia (AFP)– Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Monday that peace talks with Ukraine would continue, while warning there was a “real” danger of a World War III.

Speaking to Russian news agencies, he criticised Kyiv’s approach to the talks, adding: “Good will has its limits. But if it isn’t reciprocal, that doesn’t help the negotiation process.

“But we are continuing to engage in negotiations with the team delegated by (Ukrainian President Volodymyr) Zelensky, and these contacts will go on.”

But Lavrov accused former actor Zelensky of “pretending” to negotiate.

“He’s a good actor,” he said.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky addresses a press conference with international media in an underground metro station in Kyiv on April 23, 2022. – Zelensky criticised a decision by UN Secretary Generalto visit Moscow on April 26, before heading to Kyiv. (Photo by Genya SAVILOV / AFP)

But he added: “If you watch attentively and read attentively what he says, you’ll find a thousand contradictions.”

Given the current tensions, Lavrov said the danger of a World War III was “real”.

“The danger is serious, it is real, you can’t underestimate it,” Lavrov told the Interfax news agency.

Of the ongoing conflict in Ukraine, he said he was confident that “everything will of course finish with the signing of an accord.

“But the parameters of this accord will be defined by the state of the fighting that will have taken place at the moment the accord becomes reality,” he added.


© Agence France-Presse