Lavrov: If Zelensky wants a meeting with Putin, he must come to Moscow

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on October 30, speaking to the press on the sidelines of the G20 Foreign Ministers' Meeting in the US city of Atlanta, that if Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky wants a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin, he must come to Moscow.

Lavrov said the specific dates of the talks planned in Abu Dhabi would be announced after they are confirmed. He noted that neither he nor US Secretary of State Marco Rubio is directly involved in preparing the Abu Dhabi meeting. Russian presidential aide Yuri Ushakov said the dates of the trilateral meeting in Abu Dhabi may become known even before next week.

Lavrov said the Europeans are trying to insert themselves into the Ukrainian settlement. According to him, the Europeans' reputation cannot but be taken into account if they want to take part in the negotiation process again.

The Russian foreign minister also said Russia has no bans on selling fuel to anyone, and how the United States copes with its own restrictions is their problem. Lavrov also said Russia supports the American side's aim to depoliticise the discussions in the G20 as much as possible.

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova responded to Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski's remark about an "awkward moment" over Lavrov's participation in the G20: "And this is said by the foreign minister of a country that is not a member of the 'twenty' and is occupying someone else's seat at this meeting — the place of South Africa."

Earlier the same day, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that preparations for trilateral talks do not imply a commitment to halt hostilities. Trilateral talks between delegations of Russia, the United States and Ukraine were held in Abu Dhabi in early 2026.