MOSCOW, January 30. /TASS/. Russia and the United States consider that the Ukrainian crisis must not become a long-standing conflict, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Monday, commenting on the first phone conversation between the Russian and US presidents.
"The US side is also a strong supporter of a viewpoint that the Ukrainian crisis must not turn into a long-standing crisis, there is the need to step up efforts to solve this problem," Peskov said.
The Kremlin spokesman stressed that Moscow’s position remains unchanged and is based on "the understanding that there is no alternative to the implementation of the Minsk agreements," particularly by Kiev, without misinterpretations of the deal.
"This may become a formula for success but simultaneously we see a significant deadlock what does not contribute to solving this problem," Peskov said.
The Kremlin’s press service said earlier that during their first phone conversation on Saturday Russian President Vladimir Putin and his US counterpart Donald Trump discussed vital international issues and also major aspects of the Ukrainian crisis.
The February 2015 Minsk agreements signed by leaders of the Normandy Four group (Russia, Germany, France and Ukraine) lay the foundation for a peaceful settlement in Donbass. The deal envisages not only a ceasefire and a withdrawal of weapons, amnesty and restoration of economic ties, but also deep constitutional reforms in Ukraine to decentralize power, granting special status to certain areas of the Donetsk and Lugansk regions in the country’s east.