Published on 6/24/2026
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Wednesday that Russia is looking forward to knowing whether US President Donald Trump has actually changed his position regarding the Ukraine war.
The Russian statements came after the statements of French President Emmanuel Macron during the summit of the Group of Nations held this June in the French city of Evian, in which he indicated that Trump acknowledged during the talks that Russia does not want peace in Ukraine, describing this as representing a “real shift in approach” of the United States.
“With regard to Ukraine, we want to understand what happened at Evian,” Lavrov said at an event in Moscow, pointing out that the Americans have not yet informed Moscow of what they concluded at the Evian summit or their future steps.
Lavrov also quoted Macron as saying that the understandings reached last August between Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin in Anchorage, Alaska, had been “buried” in Evian.
Russian officials always refer to the so-called “spirit of Anchorage,” which – according to analysts – is a term that refers to Moscow’s perception of the possibility of reaching an agreement stipulating the withdrawal of Ukrainian forces from the remaining areas of Donbass that it has not been able to control, in exchange for Moscow freezing the battle lines on other fronts.
But Kiev repeatedly stresses that it will not hand over any of its territory to Russia and will continue to resist.
American maneuver
Lavrov indicated yesterday, Tuesday, that the Alaska summit may have been an “American maneuver to buy time to rearm the Kiev regime,” while two senior Russian officials accused Washington this week of not adhering to the Anchorage “understandings.”
Lavrov said that Putin agreed to what he described as an American proposal in Anchorage, stressing that Moscow wants to continue talking with the United States and is looking forward to what envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner will say in their next visit to Moscow, although its date is not specified.
He expressed his objection to the continuation of US sanctions on Russia and the United States not setting any limits on the weapons it sells to European countries in support of Ukraine, among other points of contention.
Earlier on Wednesday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that the American envoys, Witkov and Kushner, are busy with other issues, but he believes that contacts with them about Ukraine will resume as soon as these issues are completed.
Yesterday, Tuesday, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that the West, led by the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), is “actively” preparing to wage war against Russia.
The G7 leaders praised Trump’s “shift” in his position on Ukraine, and referred – in the final statement of the last summit – to “intensifying pressure on the Russian war economy” by tightening sanctions, to include in particular Moscow’s revenues from fossil fuels.
A tough American position
During the summit, Trump adopted a tougher stance towards Moscow, and said after holding a “very good” meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky that Russia should seek to conclude an agreement, expressing his impatience while denouncing the high death toll and wounded on both sides.
The statements broadcast cautious optimism among G7 leaders about the possibility of reaching a peace agreement, while Kremlin Foreign Affairs Advisor Yuri Ushakov said that European leaders may have “loaded” Trump with harmful ideas during the G7 summit.
He indicated that he believes that Trump received misleading information about the situation in Ukraine during the summit, and that Moscow is still awaiting a visit from Trump’s envoys – Witkoff and Kushner – although no date has been set for that yet.
The military escalation between Russia and Ukraine continues at a time when international efforts have failed to reach an agreement to end the war, which has entered its fifth year.
