Lavrov, Putin and Trump discuss Ukraine’s security guarantees; reference to Istanbul agreement

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov announced in an interview with the American NBC network on Sunday 24th of August that Russian President Vladimir Putin and US President Donald Trump discussed security guarantees for Ukraine during their talks.

He added that Putin referred to the 2022 Istanbul Agreement, which has not yet been implemented.

According to the draft agreement, Russia and Ukraine had discussed at the time Kiev’s permanent neutrality in exchange for security guarantees from the five permanent members of the UN Security Council.

The text of Lavrov’s interview, published by the Russian Foreign Ministry, emphasizes that guarantors of Ukraine’s security must be neutral; Ukraine must be non-nuclear and not a member of any military bloc.

Lavrov also described Ukraine’s membership in NATO as “unacceptable” for Russia, saying Russia wants to protect Russian speakers in Ukraine and negotiate territorial issues.