Ceasefire in eastern Ukraine must be observed, Lavrov tells EU ambassadors
MOSCOW. June 30 (Interfax) - Moscow sees the observance of the truce by the conflicting parties in Ukraine as a vital necessity, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said at a meeting with the ambassadors of 28 European Union states and with the chief of the EU Representative Office in Moscow.
"The Russian foreign minister spoke about the vital necessity of compliance with the truce by all the conflicting parties in Ukraine and of the earliest possible launch of a fully-fledged peace process between Kyiv and representatives of the southeastern regions. Special emphasis was laid on the tasks of curbing militants in the paramilitary formations to be fulfilled by the Ukrainian authorities, and on the solution of humanitarian problems in southeastern Ukraine," the Russian Foreign Ministry said in statement on its website.
Despite the current uneasy relations between Moscow and Brussels, Lavrov reaffirmed Russia's readiness to further promote mutually advantageous cooperation with the European Union, the Russian Foreign Ministry said. "The ambassadors' attention was drawn to the necessity to find systemic solutions to problems in Russia-EU political and economic interaction, which have deteriorated against the backdrop of the Ukrainian crisis," the Russian foreign ministry said.
Other regional and international problems were also discussed, it said.