"The President [Barack Obama] spoke today with President Nursultan Nazarbayev of Kazakhstan," the release read. "They affirmed their shared interest in seeking a peaceful resolution to the situation in eastern Ukraine and agreed on the importance of upholding the principles of sovereignty and territorial integrity."
Obama reiterated that the resolution lies in full implementation of the Minsk Agreement, and encouraged Kazakhstan to continue playing an active role in finding a peaceful outcome to the conflict.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov stated on Wednesday that if there is progress made in implementing ceasefire in Ukraine, "Normandy Format" talks in Kazakhstan’s capital of Astana will be sought after.
Lavrov, who spoke to the journalists, following a «Normandy Format» meeting in Berlin, announced the foreign ministers of Russia, Ukraine, Germany and France also agreed to support urgent withdrawal of heavy weapons in Ukraine.
On January 16, the Kazakh presidential press service said the next negotiations on the Ukrainian crisis in the Normandy format will take place at the end of January in Astana.
The meeting in Berlin was held after the renewed attacks and escalated violence in eastern Ukraine. Clashes between Kiev forces and Donbas independence supporters intensified in the first weeks of 2015, despite a ceasefire agreement reached in September, and a «silence regime» introduced in the region on December 9.
