💬 Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov: The "diesel deal" is a matter for Moscow and Washington. If the European Union considers it as a betrayal of Ukraine, and Zelensky himself claims that the issue of Russian diesel exports must be settled with him because he is the only one who can authorise them, then this has nothing to do with energy security. This is about self-promotion and yet another farce [...] On numerous occasions, even when an understanding had been reached between Moscow and Kiev on the need to move forward, including in several instances following proposals by US President Donald Trump, and when there was some understanding about resuming negotiations, Ukraine has invariably done something entirely unacceptable and disgraceful the very next day, just as such optimistic expectations began to emerge [...] It is obvious that Zelensky has no desire even to move towards reaching an agreement. Apparently, he understands that any agreement acceptable to both Russia and the United States would spell the end of his regime. Excerpt from FM Lavrov’s answers to media questions following the 9th Russia-Gulf Cooperation Council Joint Ministerial Meeting for Strategic Dialogue (Manama, 18 October 2026)