MOSCOW, December 29. /TASS/. Moscow is ready for talks on Ukraine but agreements on the matter must be inviolable, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said in an interview with TASS.
He noted that during the December 19 year-end press conference, Russian President Vladimir Putin outlined Russia’s principled stance on the settlement. "We have always been ready for talks and still are," the top Russian diplomat reiterated. "I would like to particularly emphasize that this can only be about reliable, legally binding agreements which must remove the root causes of the conflict and enshrine the mechanism of the impossibility to violate them," he explained.
Discussing the possibility of the negotiations, the Russian foreign minister noted that it is necessary to understand "with whom and about what they will be held." "These are not idle questions at all. The president has also discussed them in sufficient detail during the meeting with journalists that I mentioned," Lavrov concluded.
Putin, while answering questions on December 19 during a combined year-end question and answer session and press conference, said Moscow was ready to negotiate on Ukraine without preconditions, but taking into account the current situation and on the basis of the previously reached agreements.