“In 2021, the U.S. refused to declare Ukraine neutral and intended to deploy its missiles there,” – Lavrov

In 2021, Washington rejected Russia’s proposal for Ukrainian neutrality and declared its intention to deploy land-based intermediate- and shorter-range missiles on Ukrainian territory.

This statement was made by Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov at the “Future Forum 2050.”

According to Lavrov, these remarks were made during negotiations held shortly before the full-scale war in Ukraine by former U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken.

“We were essentially ignored. The objectives we are now pursuing within the framework of the special military operation were deemed unacceptable. No guarantees of Ukraine not joining NATO. We were told not to even think about it,” Lavrov said.

“At most, Secretary of State Blinken told me: ‘We are developing land-based intermediate- and shorter-range missiles — a class that was previously banned by the INF Treaty, which the U.S. withdrew from — let’s agree that we will deploy a certain number of these land-based missiles in Ukraine, not too many. And you take on reciprocal obligations near Ukraine’s borders for how this could be managed,’” Lavrov claimed.