BERLIN, May 08. /ITAR-TASS/. German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier noted “the positive tonality” of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s statements on Ukraine after Wednesday's meeting between the Russian leader and Swiss President and Chairperson-in-Office of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) Didier Burkhalter in Russia’s capital, Moscow.

The Russian president urged federalization supporters in the southeast of Ukraine to postpone a referendum from May 11 to a later date to create conditions to establish a dialogue.

Although the current situation in Ukraine remains “extremely tense, there is still a chance to attain deescalation of violence in the diplomatic way,” Steinmeier said in a statement on Thursday.