BRUSSELS, May 19. /ITAR-TASS/. NATO has suggested to Moscow that a meeting of the NATO-Russia Council on the situation in Ukraine be held next week, the North Atlantic alliance's Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said Monday.

A NATO diplomat earlier told ITAR-TASS that new political conditions will be formed in Ukraine after May 25, when the country plans to hold early presidential elections. The situation in Ukraine will be considered in a new context in the presence of democratically elected authorities in Kiev, he said.

Ukraine is in turmoil after a coup occurred in the country in February. New people were propelled to power amid riots as security concerns caused President Viktor Yanukovych to leave the country the same month.

Massive protests against the new Ukrainian authorities erupted in Ukraine’s Russian-speaking southeastern territories after the secession of the Crimean Peninsula, which declared independence on March 11 and joined Russia on March 18 following a referendum.

The eastern Ukrainian Donetsk and Luhansk regions held referendums on May 11, in which most voters supported independence from Ukraine.