Moscow's, Kiev's positions remain far apart from each other, parties agree on new contacts - Medinsky

MOSCOW/ISTANBUL. July 23 (Interfax) - The positions of Russia and Ukraine outlined in the draft memoranda, which the parties had exchanged earlier, were discussed during the third round of negotiations; they are quite far apart from each other, Vladimir Medinsky, head of the Russian negotiating team in Istanbul, said.

"We had a long discussion of the positions outlined by our parties in the memoranda exchanged last time. The positions are quite far apart from each other," Medinsky told reporters following the third round of negotiations with Ukraine in Istanbul.

The parties agreed to continue contacts "both at the level of delegations and, hopefully, at the level of working groups promptly," he said.