Putin, Obama Welcome Results of Ukraine Contact Group Meeting in Minsk

MOSCOW, August 1 (RIA Novosti) — Russian President Vladimir Putin and his US counterpart Barack Obama on Friday voiced satisfaction with the results of a recent Minsk meeting of international mediators on the Ukrainian crisis, the Kremlin said.

The leaders of the two countries exchanged views on the Ukrainian crisis. Despite considerable differences in the assessment of a number of key issues, both sides stressed the urgency of an immediate and sustainable ceasefire in eastern Ukraine as well as of the start of political process," the Kremlin said in a statement.

In this respect, the sides gave a positive assessement of the consultationsб held by the Contact Group in Minsk and urged the continuation of the talks in this format," the statement said.

The Trilateral Contact Group, which comprises envoys from Kiev, Russia and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, met on Thursday in the Belarusian capital, Minsk, with representatives of independence supporters from eastern regions of Ukraine to discuss steps toward the truce in the Ukrainian standoff.

The Group also agreed on creating a safety route for the international experts access to the site of the Malaysia Airlines plane crash in the area of conflict in the Donetsk region. The plane flying from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur crashed near the town of Torez in the Donetsk Region on July 17, killing all 298 people on board.

A team of international investigators reached the crash zone on Thursday for the first time within a week as the previous attempts have been hampered by continuing military action in the area. When approaching the crash area, the convoy came under a mortar fire.

Ukraine's southeast has been under fire since mid-April, when Kiev launched a special military operation aimed at suppressing the independence movement. Moscow has repeatedly condemned Kiev’s military campaign against the population in the east of the country and urged for an immediate stop to the punitive operation, advocating a peaceful resolution to the crisis.

According to the latest UN report, the conflict has claimed the lives of 1,129 civilians since mid-April, with another 3,442 injured.

Source: RIA Novosti 02-08-2014