Putin, Merkel, Hollande Begin Ukrainian Crisis Talks in Moscow

The leaders of Russia, France and Germany have started talks in Moscow over the resolution of the Ukrainian crisis.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — Russian President Vladimir Putin, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Francois Hollande began talks in Moscow Friday on a new plan for settling the Ukrainian crisis, the Kremlin spokesman said.

"Talks between Putin, Merkel and Hollande in the Kremlin have begun with 'face-to-face' session not attended by members of delegations or experts," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.

On Thursday, Merkel and Hollande discussed their new proposals with Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko during four-hour talks in Kiev.

According to various reports, the Merkel-Hollande plan is based on 12 points of the Minsk Protocol with several revisions, including the delineation of conflicting sides along the current separation line between Kiev-led forces and armed militia in self-proclaimed Donetsk and Luhansk people's republics.

Despite the ceasefire agreement reached by the independence supporters and Kiev in 2014, the military clashes intensified in southeastern Ukraine in the first weeks of this year. The warring sides traded blame for numerous civilian deaths.

The latest rounds of Contact Group talks on regulating the crisis in Ukraine failed to yield results.