Rome, 24 August (LaPresse) – Western countries "are simply looking for an excuse to prevent negotiations, and they want this to happen without any blame on their part, without any blame on Zelensky, who is stubborn, setting conditions, demanding an immediate meeting with Putin regardless of everything. An attempt to disrupt the process established by Putin and Trump, which has produced excellent results. We hope that these attempts will be thwarted." This was stated by Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in an interview with television journalist Pavel Zarubin, quoted by Russian news agencies.