Dialogue only way to solve of Ukrainian crisis - China’s Foreign Ministry

BEIJING, May 13. /TASS/. There has been significant progress in observing the Minsk agreements on the settlement of the Ukrainian crisis, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying said on Wednesday, commenting on Tuesday’s meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and US State Secretary John Kerry in Sochi. "We see that there has been progress in implementing the Minsk agreements, observing ceasefire, withdrawing heavy weaponry and creating new working groups," she noted. "We think that dialogue and consultations are the only solution to the Ukrainian crisis," the diplomat stressed. "We hope that all interested parties will work on implementing the Minsk agreements, support ceasefire which was hard to reach, work for peace and stability in Ukraine and in Europe in general," the spokesperson said. The Kremlin does not qualify talks of Russian President Vladimir Putin and US Secretary of State John Kerry as a breakthrough but as first signs of understanding that the two great powers should get their relations back on track, Kremlin aide Yury Ushakov said on Tuesday in comments on the talks. "Our president proceeded in the conversation from our fundamental interest in seeing bilateral relations get back to normal," Ushakov said. "As it was emphasized, it meets the interests of Russia, and we hope the interests of the US, and is extremely important from the point of view of ensuring international stability and security," he added. "Proceeding from this, we consider the talks very useful, necessary and positive," he added. The Minsk accords were signed on February 12, after negotiations in the so-called "Normandy format" in the Belarusian capital Minsk, bringing together Russian President Vladimir Putin, French President Francois Hollande, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Ukrainian President Pyotr Poroshenko. The talks lasted for around 14 hours. Simultaneously, a meeting of the Contact Group on Ukrainian settlement was held in Minsk. Ceasefire is one of the key points of the Minsk agreements on the Ukrainian settlement. Other points include heavy weaponry withdrawal, prisoner exchange, local elections in Donbass and constitutional reform in Ukraine. The Ukrainian forces and the self-defense forces of the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics have repeatedly accused each other of violating ceasefire and other points of the Minsk agreements. Read more