(Reuters) – Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Thursday that Moscow was ready to continue joint work with Washington to eliminate the longstanding causes of the Ukraine conflict, the Russian Foreign Ministry said.
A ministry statement said Rubio outlined in a telephone conversation the outcome of talks in Paris between a U.S. delegation and European and Ukrainian officials.
“S.V. Lavrov confirmed Moscow’s readiness to continue joint work with American colleagues with the aim of eliminating the original causes of the Ukrainian crisis,” the ministry said.
Russia has repeatedly said Ukraine must recognise the formal annexation of four Ukrainian regions as its own and that Kyiv must abandon any notion of it securing membership of the NATO alliance.
(Reporting by Reuters)
