Updated 00:18 a.m. Moscow time.
MOSCOW, October 14 (RIA Novosti) - Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Ukrainian counterpart Petro Poroshenko discussed the steps on reconciliation of the crisis in southeastern Ukraine in a phone conversation, the Kremlin press service said Tuesday.
"Possible steps on facilitating peaceful settlement of the situation in southeastern Ukraine have been discussed," the statement said, adding that "mutual readiness to continue exchanging views, including on the gas issue, on the sidelines of the October 16-17 ASEM [Asia-Europe Meeting] forum in Milan has been confirmed."
Earlier, President Poroshenko said he was anticipating hard, but successful talks with Putin. The last meeting between the two leaders took place in Minsk, the capital of Belarus, on August 26 at talks that also involved heads of Russia’s Customs Union partner nations Belarus and Kazakhstan, along with EU officials.
In September, two meetings of the Contact Group on Ukraine, which includes representatives from Russia, Ukraine, the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Luhansk People’s republics and the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), resulted in a ceasefire between Kiev and southeastern Ukraine's independence supporters and a nine-point memorandum, specifying the implementation of the truce.
ASEM is an informal trans-regional platform for dialogue and cooperation between the two regions. The 10th ASEM summit will take place in Milan on October 16-17.
