"There is hope for a result, but what's important is what our European partners take out of the Moscow talks," Valeriy Chaly told the Ukrainian 1+1 TV channel early Friday night, adding that he hopes that the proposals worked out during the Kiev meeting are welcomed by Mocow.
"The basis of these meetings, which have turned into an active work of diplomatic teams, was the development of absolutely new proposals that…implement the Minsk agreements," Chaly stressed.
The Minsk agreements were reached at a meeting of the Contact Group on Ukraine in the Belarusian capital in September, 2014. They stipulate a ceasefire between Kiev forces and independence supporters in Ukraine's southeast, the withdrawal of heavy weaponry from the line of contact between the conflicting sides and an all-for-all prisoner exchange.
Despite the Minsk agreements, fighting continues in southeastern Ukraine and has intensified since the start of this year.
The Contact Group on Ukraine includes representatives from Kiev, the self-proclaimed people's republics of Donetsk and Luhansk (DPR and LPR), Russia and the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE).
Russia is also part of the Normandy format talks on Ukrainian reconciliation, which also includes Ukraine, Germany and France. Normandy format meetings have not led to any breakthrough agreements yet.
