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Russian mediator says questions remain about Ukraine peace deal

by Reuters
Friday, 21 February 2014 16:45 GMT

MOSCOW, Feb 21 (Reuters) - A Russian envoy sent to Kiev by President Vladimir Putin said on Friday that talks to resolve Ukraine's crisis produced progress, but indicated Moscow had questions about a European Union-mediated peace deal and confirmed he had not signed it.

"Certain questions still remain, consultations will continue, this is a normal process," the Interfax news agency quoted the envoy, Vladimir Lukin, as saying after returning to Moscow.

"We talked, we clarified each other's positions," he said. "We will continue consultations, in that sense there it is of course a progress."

He said he did not sign the EU-mediated peace deal with President Viktor Yanukovich aiming to resolve a political crisis in which dozens have been killed and opening the way for an early presidential election next year.

Despite offering a $15 billion bailout seen in the West as a reward for Yanukovich's decision to cancel an association agreement with the EU, Russia has said it was not interfering. It has accused the West of meddling and warned against "imposing mediation" on Ukraine.

"The thing is that we don't quite understand what our role here is," Interfax quoted Lukin as saying. "The issue of dialogue between the Ukrainian sides is their affair, we are witnesses here."

"We want to be useful without meddling into the internal affairs of this country, without assuming obligations which are not fully clear," he said.

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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