Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Monday that he saw “no reason” for European leaders to take part in negotiations on ending the war in Ukraine and accused Brussels of wanting to prolong the conflict, The Moscow Times reported.

Lavrov's comments came ahead of his visit to Saudi Arabia on Tuesday to meet with top U.S. officials, including Secretary of State Marco Rubio.

Meanwhile, European leaders were convening in Paris for an emergency summit on Ukraine amid alarm at Washington's diplomatic outreach to Moscow.

Speaking at a press conference with his Serbian counterpart in Moscow, Lavrov said: 'If they are going to weasel out some cunning ideas about freezing the conflict, while actually intending – as is their custom, nature and habit – to continue the war, then why should we invite them at all?'

The veteran foreign minister argued that Brussels had failed to help bring a resolution to the conflict since 2014, when Moscow first annexed the Crimean Peninsula and backed separatist forces in eastern Ukraine.

Washington insists that it wants both Russia and Ukraine to make concessions if ceasefire talks ever materialize.

But Lavrov insisted that Moscow would not compromise on the Ukrainian territory its forces have seized over years of fighting, saying there could not even be a "thought" of that during negotiations.

The Kremlin claims to have annexed the Ukrainian regions of Luhansk, Donetsk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia despite not having full control of them.