Putin, Poroshenko discuss reconciliation of Ukrainian crisis

Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Ukrainian counterpart Petro Poroshenko discussed the steps on reconciliation of the crisis in southeastern Ukraine in a phone conversation, the Kremlin press service said Tuesday, according to RIA Novosti.

"Possible steps on facilitating peaceful settlement of the situation in southeastern Ukraine have been discussed," the statement said, adding that "mutual readiness to continue exchanging views, including on the gas issue, on the sidelines of the October 16-17 ASEM [Asia-Europe Meeting] forum in Milan has been confirmed."

Earlier, President Poroshenko said he was anticipating hard, but successful talks with Putin. The last meeting between the two leaders took place in Minsk, the capital of Belarus, on August 26 at talks that also involved heads of Russia’s Customs Union partner nations Belarus and Kazakhstan, along with EU officials.