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Russia is ready to host constructive negotiations with partners so as to achieve agreements for resolving the crisis in eastern Ukraine, Russian presidential aide Yuri Ushakov said Thursday.
The tripartite talks among Russian President Vladimir Putin, French President Francois Hollande and German Chancellor Angela Merkel, are scheduled to be held in Moscow, the Russian capital, at 5 p.m. Moscow time (1400 GMT) Friday, according to Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov.
The three leaders are to discuss particular measures that could "contribute to the speedy end of the civil war in Ukraine which significantly deteriorated and led to multiple casualties in the recent days," Peskov said.
As U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, who are currently visiting Kiev, the capital of Ukraine, is not coming to Moscow with Hollande and Merkel, though Moscow supports the idea of a visit by Kerry, so French President Hollande and German Chancellor Merkel also arrived in the Ukrainian capital late Thursday before heading for the Moscow meeting Friday.
Hollande and Merkel, who brokered a first ice-breaking meeting with Ukrainian and Russian leaders in June 2014, planned to discuss their new proposal with Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko later Thursday.
Before leaving for Ukraine Thursday, Hollande said during a press conference in Paris that his visit to Kiev with Merkel was arranged in an attempt to strike a new deal acceptable for all confronting parties in Ukraine. He also stressed he would not support Ukraine's entry into the NATO, which is welcomed by Moscow.
According to Ushakov, Moscow hopes that the new settlement plan raised by French and German leaders would "take into account a lot of proposals that Putin has made lately."
It is expected that agreements would be reached Friday to help stabilize the situation in Ukraine, set up direct contacts between conflicting parties, facilitate the work of the contact group, as well as restore economic ties between Kiev government and eastern regions. Enditem
