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.
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