MOSCOW, June 24. /TASS/. Russia repeatedly invited Ukraine to significantly increase the level of chief delegates at the negotiations, as well as to create three working groups, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said at the Primakov Readings international expert forum.
"It all came to an end a year ago, when, at the next round [of negotiations], the Ukrainians said, 'Well, this negotiating structure is weak, because the leadership is low-level, and they only deal with humanitarian issues.' Then we turned an attentive ear to this and said, 'Okay, we understand.' They proposed significantly upgrade - I can't say to what level, but a very high level - the leadership of the delegations, and proposed creating three working groups: on humanitarian issues, on political issues, and on military issues," Lavrov noted.
"They were evasive, preferred not to react in any way, and sometime last fall, a few months later, they simply said they were no longer interested in negotiations," Lavrov added.