Moscow says talks with US diplomat Nuland on Ukraine were "sincere, tough"

MOSCOW, May 18. /TASS/. The talks with US Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs Victoria Nuland in Moscow were sincere and sometimes tough, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Grigory Karasin said in an interview with Moscow Voice Radio on Monday.

"The dialogue on the Ukraine issue was quite detailed, sincere and sometimes tough but it would otherwise be difficult to approach these problems," Karasin said.

Most of the time at the talks was devoted to the exchange of opinions on specific parameters of settling the Ukraine crisis, the activity of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), the work of the joint center for coordination and control and the schedule of working groups, he said.

"In a word, we discussed all of the most important issues," the deputy foreign minister said.

The Russian and US sides agreed to maintain contacts when necessary, Karasin said.

"In the future this may become an important supplement to the efforts of the Contact Group [on Ukraine crisis settlement] and the Normandy format. We’ll be working," he said.

Military conflict in Ukraine should not to be aggravated

Karasin said the purpose of negotiations with Victoria Nuland is to prevent the aggravation of the conflict in Ukraine and contribute to the start of Kiev’s direct dialogue with the self-proclaimed republics of Ukraine.

"The main result of the contacts held can be brought down to the following: the United States, Russia and the world community should do everything in their power to avert new aggravation of the situation in southeast Ukraine and make maximum use of Washington’ influence on the Kiev authorities to make them launch a real rather than nominal dialogue with representatives of Donetsk and Luhansk," Karasin stressed.

"So far this process has been slower than provided by the Minsk agreements," the Russian diplomat said.