Russia's foreign minister has accused the West of giving Moscow an "ultimatum" on Ukraine.
"Virtually everything the West does, what it declares, what it implements in practice since the beginning of the special military operation, is part of an ultimatum to the Russian Federation across all areas," Lavrov said.
That includes "the prospects for a political and diplomatic settlement, which were sabotaged on the orders of the Anglo-Saxons in April 2022," along with "the creeping expansion of the range of weapons that the West itself allows to deliver to the Kiev Nazi regime," Lavrov told a press conference with Belarussian Foreign Minister Sergei Aleinik.
Russia is not holding any "undercover" talks with the West on the situation in Ukraine, the foreign minister stressed.
"We are not conducting any undercover negotiations with anyone," he told reporters.
Lavrov also stated that Russia and Belarus will strengthen military-technical cooperation.
"Special attention was paid to the formation of a common space of the Union State in the areas of defense and security," he told the press conference in Minsk. "We analyzed the progress of work on the drafts of the Union State security concept and the bilateral interstate treaty on security guarantees. We spoke in favor of strengthening military-technical cooperation."