Vladimir Putin has described his meeting with the Ukrainian president on Friday as "positive." The Russian president's spokesman however noted some of the meeting participants were reluctant to understand the true situation in eastern Ukraine, reports GHN based on RT.
"It was good, it was positive," a smiling Putin told reporters after the discussions at the margins of a summit of Asian and European leaders in Italy according to Reuters.
Putin's spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, also acknowledged the negotiations were "difficult" ones due to a number of differences and misunderstandings among the participants.
"The negotiations are really difficult, full of disagreements, full of misunderstandings," Peskov said."Nevertheless they are still taking place. There's an exchange of opinions."
"The participants have discussed in detail the implementation of the Minsk agreements effectively enough," Peskov said.
"Unfortunately, some of the breakfast participants demonstrated their complete reluctance to understand the real situation in the southeast of Ukraine."
The presidents of Russia and Ukraine met on Friday morning near Milan. They were joined by German Chancellor Angela Merkel, French President Francois Hollande, British Prime Minister David Cameron and European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso.
The meeting was hosted by the Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi, who said that while some progress had been made, "a lot of differences" still remain on the Ukrainian crisis.
There's a possibility Putin and Poroshenko will hold a bilateral meeting at the summit, Peskov said, adding that Russia would like journalists to participate.
"[Journalist participation] will depend upon our Ukrainian partners. We are open - we hope they are too."