Russia, Ukraine hold talks for five hours, find ‘common points’

Gomel Region (Belarus), Feb 28 (UNI) Russia and Ukraine held talks for five hours on Monday and agreed to hold a new round of negotiations on the Belarusian-Polish border in the next few days, the head of the Russian delegation, presidential aide Vladimir Medinsky, told reporters. He said the two sides “discussed in detail all the items on the agenda and found some common points on which we predict common positions can be found”. “The most important thing is that [we] have agreed to continue the negotiation process, and the next meeting will take place in the next few days on the Polish-Belarusian border. There is such an agreement,” Medinsky told reporters. Before the next talks, each delegation will discuss the negotiating positions with the leadership of their country, he said. Mykhailo Podolyak, an advisor to the head of the Office of the President of Ukraine, said both sides had outlined certain solutions during the talks. “Today, the Ukrainian and Russian delegations held the first round of talks, the main goal of which was to discuss a ceasefire and a stop to fighting across the territory of Ukraine. The sides set out a number of priority issues to which certain solutions were outlined,” Podolyak told reporters following Monday’s talks. “In order to ensure that these decisions can be implemented in some way and there could be some logistical solutions, the parties are returning to their capitals for consultations. The parties discussed the possibility of holding the second round of talks in the near future, at which a practical follow-up will be given to these issues,” he added. The head of the Duma foreign affairs committee, Leonid Slutsky, said after the talks with Ukraine that the two sides were ready, in the near term, to look for a possibility to reach a common denominator on the situation in Ukraine, but whether the talks result in concrete steps to save lives will be evident in the next few days. “What its continuation will be like and whether it will take shape of some concrete steps whose aim is, certainly the most important aim, is to save human lives, this, of course, time will tell very soon. Of course, not hours but days, I am sure, absolutely,” Slutsky said. “It is important for the sides to hear from one another and be ready in the very near future to look for the possibility of reaching a common denominator on these key issues,” he said.