Russia and Ukraine hold first talks since Crimea annexation

Russia and Ukraine are holding talks for the first time since Russia’s move into Crimea triggered a diplomatic crisis.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov says his country is unfazed by the prospect of being expelled from the G8.

Other members of the group of industrialized countries have agreed not to hold a planned summit in Russia.

The move comes as Ukrainian troops are leaving Crimea after Russian forces seized military bases in the region.

Earlier this month, Russia annexed Crimea after a referendum considered illegal by Kiev and the West.

Sergei Lavrov met Ukraine’s interim Foreign Minister Andriy Deshchytsia on the sidelines on a security summit in The Hague on Monday.

“We set forth our vision to establish good national dialogue taking into account all residents of Ukraine,” Sergei Lavrov told a news conference.

He also said he saw “no great tragedy” if Moscow was expelled from the Group of Eight (G8) club of leading nations for its annexation of Ukraine’s Crimean peninsula.

“If our Western partners think that this format has outlived itself, then so be it. At the very least, we are not trying to cling on to this format,” he told reporters.

The remaining members of the powerful body, who also met on the sidelines of the nuclear summit, agreed that the planned G8 summit in Russia would be called off because Russia’s aggression toward Ukraine.

Several G8 members have also called for Russia’s membership of the group to be suspended.

Secretary of State John Kerry also met Sergei Lavrov on Monday and expressed “strong concern” about the massing of Russian forces on the Ukrainian border, Reuters quoted a senior US state department official as saying.

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