08.11 Lavrov: US Interest in Facilitating Dialogue in Ukraine �?Step in Right Direction’

BEIJING, November 8 (RIA Novosti) - Russia considers Washington's interest in creating conditions for dialogue between the Ukrainian authorities and the independence supporters in Donbas to be "a step in the right direction", Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Saturday.

"For obvious reasons we have different positions with the US on the situation in Ukraine and on the causes for those events. But, nevertheless, if Washington is interested in contributing to the peaceful resolution [of the Ukrainian crisis], as well as creating conditions for dialogue between Kiev and the leaders of the independence supporters, the heads of the LPR [Luhansk People's Republic] and DPR [Donetsk People's Republic], I think it would be a step in the right direction," Lavrov said after the bilateral meeting with the US Secretary of State John Kerry on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in Beijing.