Lavrov says west sparked Ukraine conflict in its own interests, but that Moscow wants to improve relations with Washington

Russia’s foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, has called for a “reset” with the United States, following statements by western leaders that their sanctions could be lifted if Russia works toward peace in Ukraine.

In an interview with Russian Channel Five, Lavrov accused the west of setting off the Ukraine conflict in the pursuit of its own interests but also said Russia wanted to improve relations with the US.

Western countries have imposed sanctions against Russia’s financial, oil and defence sectors over Moscow’s reported support for pro-Russian rebels in eastern Ukraine. Russia responded in August by banning food imports from Europe and North America.

“The main problem is that we’re absolutely interested in normalising these relations, but it wasn’t us who ruined them. And now we need what the Americans will probably call a ‘reset,’” Lavrov said. “Something else will probably be thought up, ‘reset number two’ or ‘reset 2.0.’”

Lavrov was referring to President Barack Obama’s initiative in 2009 to improve ties between the former cold war enemies, which started off on the wrong foot when then secretary of state Hillary Clinton presented Lavrov with a badge labeled “reset” that was misspelled in Russian to read “overload”. Any progress on improving relations was soon again set back by the US Magnitsky Act banning Russian officials implicated in the death of the whistleblower Sergei Magnitsky and Moscow’s retaliatory ban on adoptions by American families.

Lavrov’s comments come amid talk that the western sanctions against Russia over the Ukraine crisis could be softened or even lifted. Obama said last week US sanctions could be lifted if Russia “changes course” and stops its “aggression” in Ukraine, where it has been accused of providing men and weapons to rebels in the eastern part of the country.

European council president, Herman Van Rompuy, has also said the EU could review its sanctions as early as the end of September if the peace plan for eastern Ukraine continues to move forward.

The EU has far more economic interests at stake in the stand-off with Russia than the United States does, and European countries remain dependent on Russian natural gas as winter approaches.

A shaky ceasefire agreed upon in Minsk by representatives of Ukraine, Russia and the rebels has held in eastern Ukraine since 5 September, and the warring sides have gone ahead with the prisoner exchanges also foreseen in the Minsk peace plan. On Friday, Kiev said it had begun talks with Russian officials about marking out a 30-kilometre buffer zone between government and rebel forces, though Moscow denied its representatives had been involved.

Lavrov praised the peace plan’s progress, saying President Vladimir Putin’s initiatives to negotiate an end to the conflict and discuss Ukraine’s economic relationship with the EU and Russia “have now essentially opened the path to dialogue”.

But the conciliatory language ended there as the seasoned diplomat placed the blame for the Ukraine crisis squarely on the West. Seated near a grandfather clock and a statuette in a reception room at the foreign ministry, Lavrov argued that the United States had been building a “power vertical” in international relations and said US sanctions were passed in the “hope of winning extra points from voters”.

He also accused the European Union of trying to “unilaterally gain economic advantages” by signing its recent association agreement with Ukraine, hinting that it “set up” the protests that toppled president Viktor Yanukovych last winter to ensure the country didn’t join Russia’s customs union instead.