Interfax: Moscow open to any format of Ukraine settlement – Lavrov

MOSCOW. Aug 25 (Interfax) – Russia is ready to take part in settling the Ukrainian crisis in any format, provided this “does not substitute the substance,” said Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.

“Basically, we are prepared – as was repeatedly stressed by President Putin – for any format, as long as there is a result and movement from the military confrontation, for the civil war in Ukraine towards a national dialogue,” Lavrov said at a briefing in Moscow on Monday.

Russia is ready to work “in any format, be it contacts at the level of the Normandy quartet (Russia, France, Germany, Ukraine) or the Geneva format (Russia, Ukraine, the U.S., the EU),” he said.

“The most important thing is that the format should not substitute the substance,” said the Russian minister.

“The preference of the Geneva format was mentioned, in particular, by Ukrainian Premier (Arseniy) Yatsenyuk and Ukraine’s Presidential Commisisoner for Crisis Resolution Iryna Herashchenko,” Lavrov said.

Russia is also ready for “conducting bilateral contacts,” the minister also said, without specifying with whom exactly such talks could be held.