MOSCOW, November 14 (Sputnik) – Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and US Secretary of State John Kerry agreed in a phone conversation Friday that the Contact Group on Ukrainian reconciliation should resume its work as soon as possible.
"They agreed that the Contact Group's work should resume as soon as possible," the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
On September 5, the Trilateral Contact Group on the situation in Ukraine, comprising of representatives from Russia, Ukraine and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) met in the Belarusian capital Minsk. As a result of the meeting, the Kiev authorities and the self-proclaimed people's republics of Luhansk and Donetsk agreed on a ceasefire, which took effect the same day. The sides also agreed to international monitoring, exchange of prisoners and the opening of humanitarian corridors.
On September 19, a memorandum was drawn up by the group to include nine provisions that would implement the ceasefire agreement between Kiev and independence supporters in eastern Ukraine.
However, both sides have subsequently accused each other of violating the truce on a regular basis.
