MOSCOW, July 30. /TASS/. European countries continue to demand a seat at negotiations over Ukraine while refusing to hear Moscow’s position, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said in an interview with blogger Pavel Kostin.
"The heads of state and foreign ministers of Western European countries - France, Germany, Britain, and all the Brussels sprouts - have spent the past year insisting that they must have a seat at the negotiating table. I guess everyone has heard them. Statements by [EU foreign policy chief] Kaja Kallas, [French President Emmanuel] Macron, [German Chancellor Friedrich] Merz, and [European Commission President] Ursula von der Leyen are widely broadcast by the media. They say they must be part of the negotiation process and be involved in settlement efforts. One would think that if you want to come to the negotiating table, it means you want to hear the positions of various parties. Otherwise, there is no point in sitting at the table," she noted.
Zakharova stressed that the West had blocked access to all alternative viewpoints. As an example, she cited Politico’s decision not to publish an interview with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on Ukraine in June. "They did not care about the author of the piece, or whether the person was under sanctions. They were only concerned that its content could serve as an antidote to their poison," Zakharova said.