Putin, Hollande, Merkel to discuss Ukraine ceasefire on Friday - Russian Foreign Ministry

A meeting between the leaders of Russia, France, and Germany to take place on Friday will mainly deal with possible ways to secure a ceasefire in eastern Ukraine, Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Alexander Lukashevich said.

"The upcoming Russian-French-German top-level meeting in Moscow tomorrow, on February 6, will be aimed at discussing concrete steps to stop the fighting in Ukraine, of which Russian presidential press secretary Dmitry Peskov has just said,"Lukashevich said at a news briefing in Moscow on Thursday.

Moscow does not expect U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry's visit in the near future. While Russia has always supported the idea of Kerry's visit to Moscow in principle, no particular arrangements have so far been made for such a visit, and so he will not join German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Francoise Hollande in their visit to Moscow on Friday, Russian presidential aide Yury Ushakov said to journalists on Thursday.

Merkel, Hollande, and Kerry will be in Kiev at the same time on Thursday.

Read more: Poroshenko, Kerry to make joint statement in Kiev

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