Russia accuses Trump of backtracking on Alaska peace framework

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has accused US President Donald Trump of abandoning the principles agreed at the Alaska talks, after Trump called for a rapid end to fighting in Ukraine.

In an interview with the Hungarian YouTube channel Ultrahang, published on Sunday evening by Russia's Foreign Ministry, Lavrov said Trump's new focus on a quick ceasefire marked "a radical change."

Lavrov argued that in Alaska Trump had said a comprehensive peace agreement was the goal, not an immediate halt to fighting.

He claimed Russian President Vladimir Putin had accepted the US position in Alaska as the basis for further negotiations, describing a lasting peace rather than a temporary truce as "the most important" element of that stance.

Lavrov blamed European countries and Ukraine for what he called Trump's "change of heart" since the August meeting.

Trump said in Alaska, where he hosted Putin in August, that a lasting peace would be preferable to a ceasefire, but at various points has also called for a pause in hostilities to allow negotiations toward a final settlement.

Moscow has consistently demanded that a ceasefire come only after a comprehensive peace deal is reached - a stance Western observers say is a delaying tactic aimed at using military pressure to strengthen Russia's negotiating position.

Trump, for his part, has expressed growing frustration with Moscow's continued bombardment of Ukrainian cities. Last week, he announced new sanctions on Russia over the war, now in its fourth year.