"We were an hour away from signing the agreement, and then he appeared"

"We are ready to negotiate with Ukraine and Europe, with all representatives who would like to help in achieving peace in good faith, but we will stop military operations only when those negotiations produce a solid and sustainable result that satisfies the Russian Federation," Lavrov said.

He pointed out that Moscow has noticed that the attitude of many countries regarding the situation in Ukraine has become "more realistic" and that there is now an understanding that it is necessary to remove the causes of the conflict, RIA Novosti reports.

"We are not changing our position and we are only pleased to state that there is more realism in the positions of many countries that understand that without a long-term sustainable agreement that would eliminate the root causes of this situation, it will not be possible to agree on anything," Lavrov said.

He added that Moscow has repeatedly stated that the drafts of the 2022 Istanbul Agreement could become the basis for a Ukrainian solution, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said.

"As for Steve Witkoff's statement that the drafts of these agreements from April 2022 could be used as a basis for the Ukrainian solution, I did not hear that. But I can only confirm that Vladimir Putin, the President of the Russian Federation, made this statement several times, recalling that in Istanbul we were perhaps an hour away from signing a full-fledged agreement, but it was proposed by British Prime Minister Boris Johnson," he said at a press conference.

He also stated that Russia intends to continue contacts with the United States of America, and that the negotiations in Riyadh gave hope that a normal dialogue with the American side is possible.

The head of Russian diplomacy also noted that the US should appoint a special representative for the purpose of negotiations on Ukraine.

In addition, Lavrov announced that important consultations between Russia and the USA will be held this week regarding the normalization of the work of the embassies of both countries.

He noted that during a meeting with his Turkish counterpart Hakan Fidan in Ankara, he informed Turkish officials about the recent Russian-American negotiations in Saudi Arabia.