Moscow: Russia is open to all contacts to end Ukrainian crisis

Moscow supports the proposal from French President Emmanuel Macron, who asked Pope Francis to talk to Russian President Vladimir Putin and the US leadership to resume the process of peace settlement in Ukraine. However, this is unlikely to affect Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky's position regarding negotiations with Russia, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said, TASS reports.

"If all this comes in line with the efforts to find possible solutions, then we have a positive assessment to this [Macron's proposal],” Peskov said.

However, "this statement does not say that someone should call President Zelensky and deal with the legislative framework, which from now on prohibits any negotiations with the Russian side,” Peskov added.

Earlier, Peskov said that Russia was ready to discuss possible solutions to the crisis in Ukraine with other countries, including with Pope Francis.

"I repeat once again: Russia is open to all contacts. But we must proceed from the fact that Ukraine has codified [legally] the non-continuation of negotiations,” the Kremlin spokesman said.