From our newsroom:
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov says there is a chance to end the war in eastern Ukraine and called for new peace talks.
Lavrov was speaking in Moscow on December 12, hours after Ukrainian President Petro Posrohenko said that a "real" cease-fire is now in place between government forces and pro-Russian separatists.
Lavrov said that "a chance to establish peace in Ukraine has emerged. It has been difficult, but a truce has been established, a cease-fire regime has been established."
He said, "We need to find a way to resume the work of the Contact Group" -- the mechanism for talks between representatives of Ukraine, the rebels, Russia, and the OSCE, which produced a September 5 agreement on a cedase-fire and steps toward peace.
Lavrov said there is now a "constructive base to move forward" on the "economic restoration" of the regions affected by the conflict and "establishing political dialogue that should eventually lead to a constitutional reform" in Ukraine.
Russia insists it supports the territorial integrity of Ukraine and has repeatedly called on Kyiv to establish direct dialogue with separatist authorities in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions.
Based on reporting by RIA Novosti, Reuters, and Interfax
Not a new assertion, but it is important to note that no preliminary investigation that's been published so far has included the "Russian" part -- just "strong suspicion that a surface-to-air missile" brought it down. Although U.S. and German intelligence sources have suggested they believe it was Russian or pro-Russian forces who fired the missile.