Ukraine crisis should not be solved militarily: Russian FM

There should be no military solution of the Ukraine crisis, Russian Foreign Minster Sergei Lavrov said Wednesday.

"We agreed that the crisis cannot be solved militarily. The way to peace lays in the direct dialogue between Kiev authorities and those wishing to defend their land in the southeast (of Ukraine)," Lavrov said after meeting with his Greek counterpart, Nikos Kotzias.

Lavrov stressed that the rights of all Ukrainian residents must be protected, regardless of their ethnic origin.

"All the ongoing processes in Ukraine should end up with a political settlement that takes into account the interests of all ethnic groups in Ukraine," the Interfax news agency quoted Lavrov as saying.

For that, the protracted comprehensive constitutional reform must be launched in Ukraine, he said, adding that economic relations between the Donbass region and the rest of Ukraine should be restored according to Minsk agreements.

After meeting with Kotzias, Lavrov departed to the Belarusian capital of Minsk for the high-profile talks over the Ukraine crisis slated to be held at Wednesday nightfall.

The Minsk summit, which gathers leaders of Russia, France, Germany and Ukraine, is expected to be the consolidation of recent multilateral diplomatic efforts on the conflict settlement.

Ahead of the Minsk summit, the Contact Group on Ukraine held talks in Minsk on Tuesday, which comprises representatives from Russia, the Ukrainian government, the self-proclaimed people's republics of Donetsk and Lugansk, as well as the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe.

The negotiations, however, were prolonged until Wednesday with yet no positive results produced. Endi