The foreign ministers of Russia and Ukraine met for the first time Monday since the annexation of Crimea, which has set off a global diplomatic row.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and Andriy Deshchytsia, the Ukrainian Foreign Minister, held a meeting in The Hague where they were to attend an international security summit.
Lavrov said at a news conference that Moscow had chalked out plans for the new Ukrainian government needs to follow to resolve the ongoing tension. "We set forth our vision to establish good national dialogue taking into account all residents of Ukraine," he told reporters.
The meeting was the first ever between both the countries' foreign ministers since Ukraine's new government took over after Viktor Yanukovych, a pro-Russian president was overthrown last month and Crimea overwhelmingly voted in support of reunification with Russia.
Prior to the meeting, Deshchytsia, said the sole concern of Ukraine was a possible Russian invasion. "The possibility of a military invasion is very high. We are very much worried about this concentration of troops on our eastern border," he said.
Deshchytsia also said Kiev was fully prepared to protect Crimea. "We think that we could co-exist peacefully but we will never give up Crimea. So we will continue, we will strengthen our efforts in bilateral talks, we will strengthen our efforts together with the international community to return Crimea to Ukraine," he said, reports euronews.
Following the meet, Lavrov said that Moscow maintained its stance of seeking a constitutional reform in Ukraine that would give more autonomy to most Ukrainian regions, reports the Associated Press. It also pressed on Ukraine to become a federation. But the new government in Ukraine has refused the demands.
Russian President Vladimir Putin had previously said that the talks between Russian and Ukrainian officials did not cease with the ongoing diplomatic turmoil.
Lavrov also met with the U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry. Lavrov said Moscow was not worried about the decision not to hold the G8 summit in Sochi in the summer. He asserted that Russia believes all the major international issues can be discussed at different international platform such as G20. "The G8 is an informal club, no one gives out membership cards and no one can expel members," he said, reports Russia Today. "If our Western partners believe that this format has exhausted itself, let it be. We are not clinging to it."
"Generally speaking, there are also other formats for considering many questions, including the UN Security Council, the Middle East Quartet and the P5+1 on the Iranian nuclear problem," Lavrov told reporters.
