MOSCOW, April 2 (RIA Novosti) - The decisions taken at meetings of the NATO Council and the Ukraine-NATO Commission have impeded intra-Ukranian talks, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told US Secretary of State John Kerry in a telephone conversation.
"The Russian side has stressed the urgent need for a joint effort to set up a broad intra-Ukranian dialogue promoting national concord on grounds acceptable to all the country's regions. The Ministry expresses concern over the decisions not conducive towards that need, taken at the ministerial meeting of the NATO Council and the Ukraine-NATO Commission," the Russian Foreign Ministry said Wednesday on a statement published on its website.
The two foreign policy leaders continued a discussion on possible international support in overcoming the current crisis in Ukraine.
"John Kerry reaffirmed the decision to de-escalate rhetoric and to continue the search for concerted action towards a diplomatic resolution of the crisis in Ukraine," the Russian Foreign Ministry said.
Lavrov and Kerry agreed to "keep in close touch," the official statement says. The amicable tone of the Russia-US talk was a break in the souring East-West relations over Ukraine.
Relations between Russia and the US dropped to their lowest level since the end of the Cold war after Crimea held a referendum to join Russia last month. The US sees Russia's support for the Crimean population as a violation of Ukraine's territorial integrity.
In an attempt to penalize Russia for what the US considers illegal actions, the country's administration has imposed economic sanctions targeting senior Russian officials. Moscow insists the referendum was fully compliant with international law and has reaffirmed its obligation to protect the Russian-speaking population of the peninsula, all the while voicing disagreement with the economic sanctions.
