• [Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov] says Vance wants to ‘stop pumping Ukraine full of weapons’
• Foreign minister says Russia welcomes anyone ready for talks

Russia’s top diplomat signaled a preference for Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump and especially his running mate JD Vance, praising their vocal interest in cutting a deal to end the war in Ukraine.

Although the previous Trump administration imposed “more and more sanctions” on Russia, “at that time, dialogue was underway between us and Washington at the highest levels,” Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told reporters at the United Nations headquarters in New York on Wednesday. “Right now, there is no such dialogue.”