SELIGER, August 27 (RIA Novosti) – Minsk is an appropriate location for the meetings of the contact group on settling the Ukrainian crisis, which include Russia, Ukraine the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) and east Ukraine independence supporters, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Wednesday.
“We have agreed to resume the work of the contact group, which convened several times in the past with the participation of representatives of Russia, the Ukrainian leadership, the OSCE and representatives of Luhansk and Donetsk. There is an understanding that this mechanism should be employed more frequently,” Russia’s top diplomat said.
“Our Belarusian friends have suggested their capital as a permanent venue for such contacts, possibly taking into account that violent clashes continue in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions, while the independence supporters are reluctant to travel to Kiev, where many people would like to see them arrested. Minsk is an optimal place for such meetings,” Lavrov said.
On Tuesday, the Belarusian capital hosted a meeting between the Customs Union, Ukraine and the European Union, followed by one-on-one talks between Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Ukrainian counterpart Petro Poroshenko, which lasted for about two hours.
Despite differences in approches concerning the situation in Ukraine, all of the participants at the meeting agreed on a non-violent de-escalation of the crisis should be worked toward. Moscow said that it is ready to do everything possible to ensure the progress of the peace process in Ukraine and stop the bloodshed in the country.
According to Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak, Russia, Ukraine and the European Union have also reached an agreement to reinitiate three-party talks on gas issues that originally took place from mid-April to June to no avail.
