Meeting Between Putin and Poroshenko Ends in Minsk – Spokesman Peskov

MINSK, August 26 (RIA Novosti) – The meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Ukrainian counterpart Petro Poroshenko came to an end in the Belarusian capital Minsk; the private conversation of the two leaders lasted for about two hours.

“The meeting is over,” the Russian leader’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov said withholding though any further comments on the results of the talks.

Following the Customs Union-Ukraine-EU meeting, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko told journalists that Russia and Ukraine “had agreed on a private meeting between the presidents of the two countries to discuss urgent issues.”

Earlier Spokesman Peskov said that the two leaders may discuss the crisis in Ukraine, humanitarian aid to the country’s eastern regions, the flow of refugees to Russia, and the possibility of an internal dialogue between Kiev and eastern Ukraine. Apart from that, during the talks the Kremlin was expected to discuss the bilateral cooperation between Moscow and Kiev following Ukraine’s signing the Association Agreement with the European Union.

Following Poroshenko’s election, the two leaders met for the first time on June 6 in Normandy, France, during celebrations to mark the 70th D-Day anniversary.

The two presidents back then spoke in favor of an immediate end to hostilities in Ukraine’s southeast, as well as combat actions on both sides of the conflict.