China could arrange a peace conference in which Russia and Ukraine would participate, the RIA news agency cited Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov as saying on Thursday. Lavrov said such a move would be a continuation of Beijing’s efforts to resolve the Ukrainian crisis.

“We share (China’s) position that the root causes of the conflict need to be addressed in the first place and legal interests of all parties need to be protected, with subsequent agreements based on the principle of equal and indivisible security,” Lavrov said in an interview with the agency.

“Let me underscore again, this entails respecting realities on the ground, which reflect the will of people living there.”

Russia has repeatedly called for talks with a precondition that Kyiv and the West recognise its territorial gains in Ukraine. Kyiv has rejected those proposals.

Lavrov criticised the United States for aiding Ukraine, saying Washington has become “an accomplice in the crimes of the Kyiv regime”.

He said, in particular, that Russia regarded the planned supplies of nuclear-capable F-16 fighters to Ukraine as a “signal action” by NATO. “They are trying to tell us that the United States and NATO would stop at nothing in Ukraine,” Lavrov said.

Russia says G20 Ukraine discussion is ‘destructive’

“Nevertheless, we hope that the Russian-Belarusian drills on the use of non-strategic nuclear weapons that are under way now will knock some sense into our opponents by reminding them about the catastrophic consequences of further nuclear escalation.”

In the Middle East, Lavrov said, the United States was also “fanning the flames of conflict”.