MOSCOW, September 5 (RIA Novosti) - NATO member states are ready to hold negotiations with Russia on the resolution of the Ukrainian crisis, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said Thursday, Reuters reported.
According to Merkel, who was speaking at the September 4-5 NATO summit in Wales, there is a consensus among NATO members that there cannot be a military solution to the crisis in Ukraine.
On Wednesday, Russian President Vladimir Putin put forward a seven-point peace plan for Ukraine, which will be discussed at the Friday meeting of the Contact Group on Ukrainian reconciliation, comprising Russia, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), the Ukrainian government and eastern Ukraine’s independence supporters.
The meeting will take place in the Belarusian capital, Minsk.
On Thursday, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko and the Luhansk and Donetsk people’s republics said they were ready to give ceasefire orders on September 5.
