Ukrainian Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin has said that after a meeting in Berlin he saw no readiness on the part of Russia to guarantee its non-involvement in Ukraine’s internal affairs.

“I understand that Russia is not ready to assume the full level of obligations on the presence of OSCE observers and the effective control of the Ukrainian-Russian border. It is not ready to acknowledge the facts of permanent border crossing by machinery and mercenaries and the intervention of the armed forces from Russian territory. These were the main moments of our conversation,” he said at a press briefing in Kyiv on Monday.

“We said [in Berlin] that the Russian side should undertake to influence terrorists in Donetsk and Luhansk regions so as to ensure effective control of the border. It is important that the Russian side assume obligations to support the presence of OSCE observers in order to ensure effective verification and monitoring. And, of course, it is important to secure progress with regard to the hostages,” Klimkin said, while commenting on talks in Berlin.

He also added: “We agreed that we would not work on a declaration or any statements. Rather, we will focus on the essence of the matter immediately in the course of our talks.”
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