At a joint press conference with Jordan’s foreign minister Ayman Safadi, Russia’s top diplomat Sergey Lavrov said Moscow supports making any European Union security guarantees for Ukraine genuinely reliable. He argued that the blueprint, in Russia’s view, should draw on the framework discussed during the Istanbul talks in spring 2022.

Lavrov recalled that, at that time, the Ukrainian negotiating team outlined core principles aimed at ending hostilities and stabilizing a settlement. Among those ideas, as he summarized them, were Kyiv’s renunciation of joining NATO or any other military alliance, along with a commitment to a neutral and non-nuclear status.

He stressed that decisions on collective security cannot be made without Russia’s participation and said Moscow is itself prepared to provide security guarantees to Ukraine. According to Lavrov, Russia does not overstate its interests but intends to defend what it considers its legitimate concerns firmly.

Returning to the Istanbul track, he noted that the Ukrainian side then suggested Ukraine’s security could be underwritten by the permanent members of the UN Security Council—a group that includes Russia. He added that, in his view, officials in the United States now recognize that trying to negotiate security arrangements without Moscow would lead nowhere.