Russian Foreign Minister Says Ukraine Peace Plan, UN Bid To Revive Grain Deal 'Not Realistic'

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov responds to a question during a press conference following his address to the UN General Assembly in New York City on September 23.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on September 23 that Ukraine's proposed peace plan as well as the latest UN proposals to revive the Black Sea grain initiative were both "not realistic."

"It is completely not feasible," Lavrov said of Kyiv's 10-point peace blueprint. "It's not realistic...but at the same time, they say this is the only basis for negotiations."

Lavrov added during a news conference at the UN' headquarters in New York that Moscow left the Black Sea grain initiative because promises made to it -- including removing sanctions on a Russian bank and reconnecting it to the global SWIFT system -- hadn't been met.

In his speech to the UN General Assembly earlier on September 23, Lavrov didn't discuss his country's war in Ukraine, but accused the West of "doing everything they can to prevent the formation of a genuine multipolar world order" and of "trying to force the world to play according to their own self-centered rules."

Lavrov also recapped some historical complaints and alluded to Western aid for Ukraine., but he didn't delve into the current fighting while addressing the assembly.

Click on the links to read the original stories by Reuters and AP.