RIA Novosti: Moscow Supports Geneva Format on Ukraine Crisis, but Against ‘Empty’ Meetings: Ministry

MOSCOW, November 7 (RIA Novosti) – Moscow supports the Geneva format of settling the political crisis in Ukraine with the participation of Russia, Ukraine, the United States and the European Union, but says Kiev should be prepared for the meeting as well as not to waste time, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Grigory Karasin said Friday.

“We take this approach seriously that’s why we don’t want to hold empty meetings,” Karasin told journalists.

On Wednesday Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko in a telephone conversation with US Secretary of State John Kerry suggested reviving the Geneva format of dialogue on a peaceful settlement of the situation in Ukraine at the level of foreign affairs ministers.

Later that day, the country’s Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk said that Kiev sees “no outcome” in bilateral talks with representatives of eastern Ukraine, but is willing to take part in negotiations held in the Geneva format.

Top diplomats from Russia, the United States, the European Union and Ukraine met in Geneva on April 17 to devise a road map, which called for an end to the violence in the region, amnesty for all those involved in the fighting and dialogue between the state authorities and independence supporters. However, the Geneva Accords did not stop Kiev from proceeding with its military operation in southeastern Ukraine. A ceasefire agreement between the conflicting sides was reached months later on September 5, following talks between Russia, Ukraine, the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Luhansk people’s republics and the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE).