Negotiations with Ukraine are not easy, but there is some hope for a compromise, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said.

His remarks came during an interview with the RBC television channel on Wednesday.

"I am guided by the assessments given by our negotiators. They state that the negotiations are not easy for obvious reasons, but nevertheless there is some hope of reaching a compromise. Some representatives of the Ukrainian delegation, including those from the office of Zelenskyy, give the same assessment," Lavrov said.

He noted that Russia will be ready for contacts with the Ukrainian side in the future as well, but it is necessary to understand what the added value will be.

The Minister said that Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba did not come up with any new ideas during the negotiations in Antalya. "He said he hadn't come there to repeat public statements. I wondered all the more. But during the hour and a half of the meeting, the conversation with the presence of Turkish Minister [Mevlut Cavusoglu] and despite my three or four-fold reminders that I would like to hear something that was not heard in the public space, he never put forward any new ideas," Lavrov said.

The foreign minister called for giving Russian and Ukrainian negotiators the opportunity to work in a calm atmosphere.

There are concrete formulations in the negotiations between Russia and Ukraine which are close to an agreement. Lavrov hopes that the business spirit that Kiev's representatives are displaying will make it possible to agree on the topic of Ukraine's neutral status

Lavrov said that NATO's response to Ukraine's calls cooled Zelenskyy's ardor. "We remember how President Zelensky, as recently as a few weeks ago, talked about the need for NATO to close the skies, start fighting for Ukraine, recruit mercenaries and send them to the front. It was stated quite aggressively, but, apparently, the reaction of the North Atlantic Alliance, which still has sensible people, cooled this ardor," he said.

 The West did not want to solve the security situation peacefully, the minister pointed out.