Renzi urges diplomacy in Russia talks

(ANSA) - Moscow, March 5 - Premier Matteo Renzi said Thursday in the Russian capital that "there is no alternative to a political and diplomatic solution" to international crises. He spoke at the start of talks with Premier Dmitri Medvedev on the Russia-Ukraine crisis. He arrived Wednesday from Kiev, where he met with Ukrainian President Petro Poroschenko. Medvedev said he hoped "bilateral, economic and trade relations could also be discussed". As well, Renzi laid flowers on the bridge where opposition politician Boris Nemtsov was assassinated on February 27.
    In an interview with TASS Russian news agency after his meeting with Medvedev, Renzi said the Minsk accord between Russia and Ukraine "was a step forward".
    "We must all respect...the Minsk agreement," Renzi said.
    "We must work on a daily basis for the premises and promises of Minsk to become a reality".
    The Minsk protocol between Russia and Ukraine was brokered by German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Francois Hollande in Moscow in January.
    It calls for a ceasefire and Constitutional reforms to ensure the rights of people in eastern Ukraine are respected.
    Kiev forces have been engaged in a bloody conflict with pro-Russia separatist rebels in its eastern regions since Russia annexed Ukraine's Crimea peninsula in March last year.