Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has accused Kyiv of trying to “escalate" the conflict in the country’s east ahead of a Group of Seven (G7) summit of economic powers.
Lavrov told a news conference in Moscow on June 8, “It is a kind of a joker card in the hands of the Ukrainian authorities -- We, Ukrainians, will disrupt the implementation of the Minsk agreements, but it will be Russia who will suffer because no one will lift sanctions against Russia."
On the first day of the G7 summit in Germany on June 7, the U.S. and German leaders said sanctions on Russia must stay until it implements the deal to end fighting in Ukraine's east.
"By adopting a stance where sanctions against Russia are linked to the implementation of the Minsk agreements by Russia only," Lavrov said, "our Western partners have become hostages of the current Ukrainian government."