CIS partners recognize need to address root causes of Ukraine crisis — Lavrov

TURKMENBASHI, Turkmenistan, October 7. /TASS/. Russia’s partners in the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) recognize the need to address the root causes of the Ukraine crisis to resolve it, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said at a news conference following a meeting of the CIS Council of Foreign Ministers.

"We assessed the current situation surrounding the Ukraine crisis and thanked our partners for their understanding of the need to address its root causes," he said.

Lavrov added that the talks covered in detail the situation in the Middle East, the Persian Gulf region and the Arabian Peninsula as a whole.

"We discussed the impact of these deep-seated crises on the global economy. In this context, we stressed the need to advance cooperation both within the CIS and across the Eurasian continent. The region has all the conditions needed to expand cooperation without relying on unreliable payment and transportation systems," the foreign minister said.