President Donald Trump on Tuesday dismissed comments made by Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov that Moscow does not consider Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy a legitimate leader as "posturing" ahead of potential peace negotiations, The Hill reported.
"It doesn't matter what they say," Trump said during Tuesday's Cabinet meeting. "Everybody's posturing. It's all [expletive]."
Lavrov told NBC's "Meet the Press" on Sunday that Zelenskyy's legitimacy could be a hurdle to any final peace agreement.
"Irrespective of when this meeting might take place, and that must be very well-prepared, the issue of who is going to sign the deal on [the] Ukrainian side is a very serious issue," said Lavrov, who referred to Zelenskyy as "the de facto head of the regime."
Trump has been pushing for an end to the more than three-year-old war in Ukraine. He met with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Aug. 15 in Anchorage, Alaska, and met with Zelenskyy and other European leaders at the White House on Aug. 18. Trump said the next step would be a meeting between Putin and Zelenskyy, but each side has been reluctant to agree to bilateral talks.
On July 14, Trump said he would impose 100% tariffs and secondary sanctions on countries importing Russian oil if Putin did not agree to a ceasefire within 50 days. Less than two weeks later, he shortened that deadline to 10 to 12 days. But when the shortened deadline passed, Trump did not impose the sanctions and pivoted to diplomacy, leading to his meeting with Putin in Alaska.
Lawmakers are pressing Trump to support bipartisan legislation in Congress that would impose up to 500% tariffs on countries that buy Russian oil and natural gas and do not help Ukraine, as well as other sanctions on Russia and countries that do business with it.
Trump reiterated Tuesday he's prepared to impose economic sanctions against Russia if Putin does not agree to a ceasefire.
"It's very serious what I have in mind, if I have to do it, but I want to see it end," Trump said. "I think that in many ways [Putin is] there. Sometimes he'll be there, and Zelenskyy won't be there. It's like, who do we have today? I gotta get them both at the same time.
"But I want to have it end. We have economic sanctions. I'm talking about economic because we're not going to get into a world war. ... I'd like it to stop. I want to get it to stop, and it will not be a world war, but it will be an economic war. And it's going to be bad for Russia, and I don't want that. And I also have to see ... you know, Zelenskyy is not exactly innocent either. It takes two people to tango."
Michael Katz ✉
Michael Katz is a Newsmax reporter with more than 30 years of experience reporting and editing on news, culture, and politics.