Russia urges 'immediate ceasefire' in Ukraine

Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has said the talks on Ukraine crisis taking place in the Belarusian capital, Minsk, should ...

Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has said the talks on Ukraine crisis taking place in the Belarusian capital, Minsk, should seek an immediate ceasefire in the conflict.


The statement came on Monday ahead of the Ukraine "contact group"
talks that includes representatives from Russia, Ukraine, the
Vienna-based OSCE security and rights organisation and separatist rebels
in eastern Ukraine.

I very much count on today's negotiations being devoted above all to the task of agreeing an immediate ceasefire, without conditions. Sergei Lavrov, Russian FM

Lavrov said that the Ukrainian forces must pull back from positions from which they can hit civilian targets.


"They must leave positions from which they can harm the civilian population," Lavrov told students in Moscow.


"I very much count on today's negotiations being devoted above all to
the task of agreeing an immediate ceasefire, without conditions."


Russian President Vladimir Putin raised the stakes in the conflict on Sunday by calling for the first time for statehood to be discussed for the restive east of the former Soviet state.


"We need to immediately begin substantive talks... on questions of
the political organisation of society and statehood in southeastern
Ukraine," the Russian leader said in an interview with Channel 1 state
television.

"Only Ukraine can reach an agreement with New Russia, taking into
account the interests of New Russia, and this is the only way to reach a
political settlement," he added.

Moscow has previously only called for "federalisation" that would
grant greater rights to the eastern regions of Ukraine, where
predominantly Russian speakers live.

Kiev to shun rebels

Russia has long called for Kiev to hold direct political talks with
the rebels. Kiev says it is willing to have talks on more rights for the
south and east, but will not talk directly to armed fighters it
describes as "international terrorists" and Russian puppets that can
only be reined in by Moscow.


Past talks by the "contact group" have covered technical issues such
as access to the crash site of a Malaysian airliner shot down in July,
but not political questions.


The past week has seen Ukrainian forces flee in the path of a new
rebel advance, drawing concern from Ukraine's Western allies, who say
armoured columns of Russian troops came to the aid of a rebellion that
would otherwise have been near collapse.