Contacts between Russian, Ukrainian presidents should be substantive - Lavrov

ANTALYA. March 10 (Interfax) - Russian President Vladimir Putin has never rejected contacts, as long as they are substantive, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said, when asked if a meeting between the Russian and Ukrainian presidents is possible.

"I think everybody is well aware that President Putin never rejects contacts. We only want these contacts to be arranged not just for the sake of it," Lavrov said at a press conference on Thursday, following negotiations with Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba.

Contacts between presidents should be arranged "to fix some agreements," he said.

"By the way, we touched upon this subject today. Mr. Kuleba mentioned the subject, and I pointed out to him that we are always in favor of meeting if we can achieve some value added and can solve a problem," he said.

The Ukrainian leadership has preferred "meetings just for the sake of it" in the past few years, he said.

"We reaffirmed today that President Putin is not refusing to meet with Mr. Zelensky, and I hope this need will perhaps arise some day, but preparatory work should be done for that, which is ongoing on the Belarusian track," he said.