Opinions & Interviews

MINSK, 27 August (BelTA) - Russia will do everything to facilitate the peace process in Ukraine, Russian President Vladimir Putin told reporters after the bilateral meeting with Ukrainian President Piotr Poroshenko, BelTA has learned.

"We talked about the need for the immediate end to the bloodshed, the need to move to a political settlement of the whole set of problems Ukraine is facing in its southeast. Russia, for its part, will do anything for the peace process, if it begins. In our view, this process should be started as soon as possible," said Vladimir Putin.

In addition, he noted that the whole range of Russian-Ukrainian relations, including the economic interaction, was discussed at the meeting. "We, I and President Poroshenko, believe that there is a need to resume our energy dialogue, including about gas problems. Sincerely speaking, this is a complicated issue, it has reached a dead end, but we still need to talk about it. We agreed to resume these consultations," the Russian President said.

Vladimir Putin also reminded that an agreement was reached to resume the work of the Russia-OSCE-Ukraine contact group.

Speaking about the results of the Minsk summit, Vladimir Putin noted: “I assess the meeting as positive. I think that the meeting in such a format was useful. Although I do not know what results it will bring in the longer run. At least we had an opportunity to voice our concerns.” He added that an agreement was reached to intensify the work of the working group which comprises representatives of Russia, Ukraine and the European Union.

The Russian President stressed that the proposals to resolve the concerns of Russia and the Customs Union over Ukraine’s association agreement with the EU would be worked out by 12 September. Vladimir Putin emphasized that Ukraine’s introduction of EU technical regulations would deny access for practically all Russian goods to Ukraine. The same would happen with respect to Ukrainian products.