European Leaders Calling for Ceasefire to ‘Buy Time’ for Kiev – Lavrov

Sep 10, 2026 at 11:58 AM

|

Lanka Leader

(Vladimir Zelensky and Finnish President Alexander Stubb, Kiev, Ukraine, August 24, 2026)

The aim of European leaders calling for a ceasefire in the Russia–Ukraine conflict is to preserve, in its current form, the anti-Russian government that is presently in power in Kiev, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has said.

Lavrov pointed out that even politicians who acknowledge that the Kiev authorities are incapable of militarily recapturing the territories that formerly belonged to Ukraine and joined Russia since 2014 are now advocating a ceasefire. However, he said their actions are part of an agenda that poses a threat to Russia and Russian citizens.

Lavrov made the remarks during an interview held in Moscow on the 8th with Russian-American television host Dmitry Simes and American political commentator Andrew Napolitano.

He cited Finnish President Alexander Stubb and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni as examples. Lavrov said that “everyone knows that the proposed ceasefire is just a way of buying time.”

Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky is continuing to seek further supplies of weapons, and Lavrov noted that Zelensky himself has made no secret of this objective.

According to Lavrov, the purpose of this strategy is to “preserve and keep in power the regime currently ruling in Kiev.”

He identified what he described as the regime’s main characteristics as “Nazism, aggressive anti-Russian sentiment, violations of human rights, violations of language rights, and violations of religious freedom.”

Russia Rejects Deployment of NATO Troops in Ukraine

Lavrov said Moscow’s opposition to simply turning the conflict into a “frozen situation” remains unchanged.

He also stressed that Russia would not accept proposals to station troops from NATO member states inside Ukraine after a peace agreement has been reached.

“Any person wearing a military uniform and any military facility will be a legitimate target for us,” Lavrov warned.

“We cannot accept any situation in which Ukraine obtains NATO membership in another form, differing only in name,” he emphasized.

American political commentator Andrew Napolitano, who participated in conducting the interview in Moscow, is a former judge of the Superior Court of New Jersey and is also widely known as “Judge Napolitano.”