West Should Speak With Russia on Equal Terms: Council of Europe

MOSCOW, November 16 (Sputnik) — Council of Europe's (CoE) Secretary General Thorbjorn Jagland has called on the western countries to intensify their talks on the Ukrainian crisis with Russia, noting that the "talk with Moscow should be held on equal terms," Deutsche Welle reports Sunday.

"It is absolutely obvious that Moscow has an influence on the events in eastern Ukraine and that is why the West should be speaking with Russia on equal terms," Jagland said as quoted by Deutsche Welle.

According to the German Media, the CoE Secretary General commended the intensification of talks between the Russian and US Foreign Ministers and called on the European states to boost their humanitarian aid to Ukraine.

It was reported earlier that Thorbjorn Jagland is planning to visit the Russian capital in the end of November. According to his press secretary Daniel Holtgen, Jagland could visit Moscow on November 27.

Relations between Russia and the West have gone downhill since the eruption of a crisis in Ukraine, with several rounds of economic sanctions having been imposed against Russia by the United States, the European Union and their allies.