Moscow - Moscow expects that Russian President Vladimir Putin's proposals on settling the conflict in Ukraine will be used during a session of the contact group for Ukraine in Minsk on Sept. 5, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said.
“We hope that the conflicting parties will use these ideas and try to reach an agreement during the contact group session,” Lavrov said at a meeting with Council of Europe Secretary General Thorbjorn Jagland in Moscow on Sept. 4.
Moscow is trying to make its contribution to efforts to start a dialogue between Kyiv and the southeastern part of Ukraine, Lavrov said. “The Council of Europe can and should play a constructive role at this difficult time,” he said.
Lavrov insisted that decisions made by the Council of Europe, the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), and the UN Security Council should be implemented fully. “This concerns investigations into all crimes and all incidents that have taken place on Maidan (in Kyiv), the tragedy in Odesa, the Boeing crash, a ceasefire, and the normalization of dialogue,” he said.
The Council of Europe’s and the OSCE’s principles have lacked respect and fallen victim to double standards as of late, he said.
“As long as we don’t abandon attempts to perpetuate the dividing lines in Europe, we will face challenges like the current one from time to time,” he said.
