BERLIN, August 18 (RIA Novosti) – Moscow called for the need of an unconditional ceasefire in Ukraine during the four-party Berlin talks, but Kiev is continuing to set conditions, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Monday.
“We confirmed our Russian position, which includes a ceasefire, and we have declared this several times, this must be unconditional. [Our] Ukrainian colleagues, unfortunately, continue to push forward various conditions, which are quite foggy, including what they call providing for the ‘impermeability of borders,’” Lavrov said.
He added that Russia has “nothing against control over the movement across the border and that it be effective to the maximum” and that Russia is doing everything possible so this happens.
This is the second four-party meeting of the kind. During the previous talks on July 2, also in Berlin, Sergei Lavrov, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, Laurent Fabius and Pavlo Klimkin agreed on a declaration that called for a peaceful resolution to the conflict in Ukraine's southeast.
A military confrontation between the Kiev-backed troops and the local militia has been taking place in eastern Ukraine since mid-April.
Russia has repeatedly called for immediate ceasefire in the violence-hit region and the establishment of safe corridors for deliveries of humanitarian aid and evacuation of civilians from the combat zone.
