MOSCOW, Sept. 15 (Xinhua) -- Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Tuesday that Russia is ready to seek compromises on Ukraine but has never changed its position on preventing the North Atlantic Treaty Organization's (NATO's) presence on its borders.
"We are ready, within this position, to seek reasonable compromises, but fundamentally we have not changed our objectives -- to ensure our security, to prevent NATO's presence on our borders," Lavrov said during an ambassadorial roundtable discussion on the Ukrainian settlement.
Lavrov added that Russia welcomes the U.S. interest in facilitating a settlement in Ukraine. "The main thing is that the United States understands the root causes of this conflict, unlike all other Western countries," he said.
Speaking of negotiation possibilities, Lavrov reaffirmed that Russia has never rejected talks and is prepared to hold talks in both a bilateral and trilateral format. ■
