Updated on 11:32 a.m. Moscow Time
MOSCOW, September 4 (RIA Novosti) – Russia is ready to help the opposing sides in Ukraine to find a way to stabilize the situation within the framework of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Thursday.
“We will be ready along with the OSCE within the frameworks of the contact group to help the opposing sides [in Ukraine] with a practical plan of moving along the path to stabilize the situation,” Lavrov said during talks with OSCE Parliamentary Assembly President Ilkka Kanerva.
On Wednesday, Russian President Vladimir Putin outlined a seven-point plan for the settlement of the crisis in Ukraine, calling on Kiev to withdraw troops from southeastern regions of the country and militia to cease military advances. The plan also includes, among other proposals, the creation of an international monitoring force and the establishment of a humanitarian corridor.
Since April, Kiev has been conducting a military operation in the southeastern regions of Ukraine that refused to recognize the legitimacy of the country’s new government that came to power after a February coup. The fighting intensified after Donetsk and Luhansk regions proclaimed independence in May.
Thousands of people have been affected by continuous shelling by the Ukrainian Armed Forces, while the southeastern regions are currently in a state of humanitarian catastrophe, with citizens struggling without water and electricity.
The conflict has already claimed more than 2,500 lives, according to UN statistics published last week.
