More on the Mistral deal:
Russia Ready To Take Cash From France Instead Of Warships
Russia says it is ready to take cash from France instead of two warships.
Russia has ordered two Mistral helicopter carriers from France.
But Paris is under pressure from Western allies not to turn them over due to Russian actions in Ukraine.
French President Francois Holland and Russian President Vladimir Putin discussed the contract when they met in Armenia last month.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov responded on May 15 to a newspaper report that France had made a formal proposal to scrap the deal.
He said the issue was not a major headache in relations betwen the two countries.
"The principle is the following -- either the goods or the money," Peskov said.
According to Russian business daily Kommersant, Moscow has put its spending and losses over the contract at 1.16 billion euros but that Paris was offering to pay 785 million euros.
Peskov did not comment on the details of the report.
Based on reporting by TASS and Reuters
Senior US diplomat meets with Ukrainian prime minister in Kiev
Berlin (dpa) - The US assistant secretary of state for Eurasian affairs, Victoria Nuland, met with Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk in Kiev to discuss issues that included "overcoming Russian aggression," the Ukrainian government said.
The officials on Thursday discussed US aid to help Ukraine implement a ceasefire with pro-Russian separatist rebels in the east as well as implement economic reforms in preparation for an EU free-trade agreement to come into effect in January, Ukraine's cabinet said late Thursday in a statement.
Nuland is scheduled to meet with several Ukrainian officials during her visit, which lasts until Saturday, the US State Department said.
Her trip follows a landmark meeting this week between Secretary of State John Kerry and President Vladimir Putin in Russia, during which they discussed the conflict in eastern Ukraine.
Relations between the United States and Russia plummeted last year to a low unprecedented since the Cold War after protests in Kiev led to the ouster of Ukraine's pro-Russian president and Russia then annexed Ukraine's Crimea region and supported the separatist uprising.
More than 6,000 people have been killed in the conflict since it turned violent in April last year, according to the United Nations.
Nuland had been portrayed in Russian media as exemplifying purported US involvement in deposing Viktor Yanukovych, Ukraine's pro-Russian president, after she met with opposition leaders during the protest movement that erupted in late 2013 after Yanukovych decided not to
sign an association agreement with the European Union and instead focus on building ties with Russia.
This week, ahead of Kerry's meeting in the southern Russian city of Sochi, Russia's Foreign Ministry said it hoped the visit would "help normalize bilateral relations, upon which much of the world's stability depends."
But the ministry also blamed the US for damaging ties, saying the US "unreasonably attributed to Russia responsibility for the Ukraine crisis, which in many ways was provoked by the US themselves."