GOMEL REGION /Belarus/, February 28. /TASS/. The next round of talks between Russian and Ukrainian delegations may be organized within days, Leonid Slutsky, chairman of the international committee of the Russian State Duma, or lower parliament house, and a member of the Russian delegation to the talks, said on Monday.
"The next meeting will be held within days," he said in an interview with the Rossiya-24 television channel.
According to Slutsky, on Monday the sides "exchanged views on all key aspects of the current situation." The Russian delegation, in his words, will discuss the results of today’s talks with the Russian leadership during the day.
He said that the Russia delegation will discuss the results of Monday’s talks with the country’s leadership in the coming day, maybe, already this night. "After that, we will get back to contacts with the Ukrainian side and will be able to agree the date and time of the next round of talks," he noted, adding that if the Ukrainian side preserves the constructive approach, the second round "is not far off."
The Russian lawmaker told journalists that the ceasefire and demilitarization "were discussed, like many other" matters. "But let us now refrain from discussing concrete results, the sides need to hold consultations in the capitals," he added.
Monday’s talks between Russia and Ukraine lasted for five hours. The Russian delegation includes Deputy Defense Minister Alexander Fomin, Deputy Foreign Minister Andrey Rudenko, chairman of the international committee of the Russian State Duma, or lower parliament house, Leonid Slutsky, and is led by presidential aide Vladimir Medinsky.
The Ukrainian side is represented by Defense Minister Alexey Reznikov, presidential office adviser Mikhail Podolyak, leader of the Servant of the People faction David Arakhamia, first deputy head of Ukraine’s delegation to the Contact Group on the settlement in Donbass Andrey Kostin, lawmaker Rustem Umerov, and Deputy Foreign Minister Nikolay Tochitsky.
Medinsky said earlier that the Russian delegation is ready to hold talks as long as it takes to reach agreements. He also noted that the meeting was postponed several times during the night and as a result it was agreed to hold it in Belarus’ Gomel region, near the border with Ukraine, as had been originally planned.