Russia to develop friendly ties with all countries: Putin

Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday that Moscow was determined to develop friendly relationship with all countries, "both in the West and the East."

"We will be developing friendly relations with all of our partners, both in the West and the East, and take part in working out collective solutions to global and regional problems," Putin said.

Putin added that Russia would continue to safeguard international stability and security with as much efforts as possible.

Earlier in the day, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said that Moscow maintains contact with the United States is in Russia' s national interests.

"We don't refuse to interact (with Washington). But we agree on cooperation not because they want to cooperate with us in a particular sphere, but because these contacts are in our interests, " Lavrov told Rossiya-24 television channel.

Lavrov doubted Ukraine's leadership on the implementation of a peace accord reached in the Belarussian capital of Minsk in February.

He stressed that Russia, along with Germany and France, will facilitate the peaceful progress in Donbass, which he said should be based on Kiev's direct dialogue with two self-proclaimed republics of Donetsk and Lugansk.

The crisis in Ukraine has caused a dive of the relationship between Russia and the West, with rounds of Western sanctions slapped on Moscow for its annexation of Crimea and its alleged military involvement in the conflict in eastern Ukraine. Enditem