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Duma speaker, Ukraine acting president spoke on phone

Sergei Naryshkin (archive) ITAR-TASS/Sergei Karpov
Sergei Naryshkin (archive)
© ITAR-TASS/Sergei Karpov

MOSCOW, March 04. /ITAR-TASS/. The spokeswoman of Russian State Duma Speaker Sergei Naryshkin confirmed on Tuesday that he had spoken on the phone with Ukrainian parliament Speaker Oleksandr Turchynov, appointed by the parliament as Interim President of Ukraine.

“I confirm telephone contacts between Sergei Naryshkin and Turchynov, they were confidential,” Yevgenia Chugunova said without specifying when the telephone conversation had taken place.

Earlier on Tuesday, Russian President Vladimir Putin told reporters that he had instructed the Cabinet of Ministers “to restore contacts at the government level with their colleagues from respective ministries and departments of Ukraine to avoid severance of economic ties, and to support them in a bid to restore the economy."

Moreover, according to the president, Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev was in touch with parliament appointed Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk, while Duma Speaker Naryshkin maintained contacts with Turchynov.