Updated 7:47 p.m. Moscow Time
MILAN, October 17 (RIA Novosti) - A highly-anticipated meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Ukrainian counterpart Petro Poroshenko began in Milan, a RIA Novosti correspondent reported Friday.
The two leaders met twice in a multilateral format earlier in the day on the sidelines of the Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) in Italy.
Issues on the agenda of the two-day summit in Italy's Milan, which has brought together the leaders of more than 50 countries, include sustainable development, global security and the situation in Ukraine.
Following the breakfast meeting with the Russian leader, Poroshenko said earlier on Friday he was not very optimistic about the peace process in eastern Ukraine.
The early-morning talks between Poroshenko and Putin were also attended by several EU leaders: British Prime Minister David Cameron, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Francois Hollande, as well as European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso and European Council President Herman Van Rompuy. The meeting was hosted by Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi.
The previous meeting between the two presidents was held in Minsk on August 26 during trilateral talks that also involved heads of Russia's Customs Union partner nations Belarus and Kazakhstan, along with EU officials.
