MOSCOW, June 4 (RIA Novosti) — Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and US Secretary of State John Kerry will meet in Paris Thursday, the Russian Foreign Ministry said Wednesday.
"We confirm that this meeting is planned," a source in the Russian Foreign Ministry told RIA Novosti.
State Department Spokeswoman Jen Psaki said earlier that Lavrov and Kerry would hold a meeting in Paris.
"The focus of the discussion will be on Ukraine, given the upcoming inauguration (of the President-elect Petro Poroshenko) on Saturday, as well as on Syria and the continuing work on the removal of chemical weapons (from the country)," Psaki told journalists earlier, as quoted by Reuters.
Russian President Vladimir Putin does not plan to attend Poroshenko's inauguration, although Moscow said it respected the choice of the Ukrainian people after the early presidential vote on May 25.
Lavrov and Kerry discussed the Ukrainian crisis in a phone conversation a week ago. The Russian minister stressed the need to stop immediately Kiev’s ongoing military operation against independence supporters in southeastern Ukraine and to launch a national dialogue to find a peaceful solution to the Ukrainian standoff.
France will hold D-Day celebrations on Wednesday, commemorating 70 years of American allies landing in Normandy in what was the largest landing operation in history, which opened the second European front in World War II.
World leaders, including Russian President Vladimir Putin, are expected to attend. Putin is set to hold talks with German Chancellor Angela Merkel and British Prime Minister David Cameron.
