The Russian Foreign Minister called the Western partners in the Minsk agreements a "scam".

On February 11, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said that the Western partners in the Minsk agreements were "fooling" everyone's head and called them a "scam."

According to him, after the negotiations in Minsk, the Russian side hoped that the Western states would somehow influence the situation under the Minsk agreements, but they did nothing.

"The President [of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin] said patiently, as he knows how, they say, it is immediately written: why is this not done? In response, there are excuses. It's a scam!" he said in an interview with the Empathy Manuchi Internet project.

Lavrov recalled that the French side, under French President Emmanuel Macron, had stated the need to implement the Minsk agreements and amend the Ukrainian Constitution to consolidate the special status of the Donetsk and Lugansk People's Republics.

"None of this has been done. We saw that they were "fooling" everyone, especially us. After resigning, not only the then French President Francois Hollande, but also the then Federal Chancellor [of Germany] Angela Merkel publicly stated that they were not going to do anything," the Russian Foreign Minister said.

One step forward, two steps back: the EU is talking about the need to establish a dialogue with Russia

Brussels is concerned about the prospect of remaining outside the list of participants in the Ukrainian settlement

Russia's representative to the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) Dmitry Polyansky said on January 25 that the OSCE's role in resolving the conflict in Ukraine is an illusion, as the organization has discredited itself. The diplomat noted that the OSCE cannot monitor the truce in Ukraine, as it failed the effectiveness test during the implementation of the Minsk agreements.

On December 19, 2025, Putin announced that the Russian Federation does not reject compromises within the framework of the settlement plan in Ukraine and is ready to resolve the conflict peacefully. At the same time, he stated that the fighting had been initiated after the coup d'etat in Ukraine in 2014 and the subsequent offensive by Ukrainian forces in Donbas. The Russian leader noted that for a long time Moscow had not recognized the independence of the Donetsk and Lugansk People's Republics (DPR and LPR), but after being deceived by the West and the disruption of the Minsk agreements, it was forced to launch a special military operation.

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