Moscow Open to Kiev Agreeing on Access to Russian Border With Donbass

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said that Kiev has signed agreements that direct talks must be held with the self-proclaimed people’s republics of Donetsk and Lugansk (DPR and LPR) on a variety of issues including access to the Russian-Ukrainian border.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) – Moscow is not against Kiev trying to agree with the self-proclaimed people’s republics of Donetsk and Lugansk (DPR and LPR) in Ukraine’s southeast on getting access to the Russian-Ukrainian border, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said.

"In what concerns access to borders with the Russian Federation of republics within Ukraine: if Ukrainians agree with Donetsk and Lugansk, we are all for it. But it has to be specifically an agreement with them, because they have certainly not forgotten the threats that came and continue to come from Kiev," Lavrov told Russia's Vesti v Subbotu weekly news program.

The Russian Foreign Minister stressed that Kiev has signed agreements that direct talks must be held with DPR and LPR on a variety of issues.

"They [Minsk agreements] state that, with Donetsk and Lugansk, everything must be agreed upon that concerns changes to the constitution, the special status of Donbas [Ukraine’s southeast] and the modality of holding elections," Lavrov stressed.