Milan: 'positive' talks about Ukraine crisis, Russian gas

Ukraine’s President Petro Poroshenko has met with Russian President Vladimir Putin and EU leaders in Milan.<br /><br />An upbeat Putin said the talks at the Europe-Asia (ASEM) summit had been “positive” but there had been no sign of de-escalating the Ukraine crisis.<br /><br />Delegates were also looking to resolve a dispute over natural gas supplies from Russia.<br /><br />Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi, who hosted the meeting, said progress had been made but differences remain.<br /><br />“I think we made a step ahead for the climate, for the constructive discussion. Obviously there a lot of differences,” said Renzi.<br /><br />“But I would underline the real desire to find solutions and for these reasons I think we can be positive,” Renzi added.<br /><br />The EU fears Russia’s decision to cut gas supplies to Ukraine because of unpaid bills could disrupt energy supplies to Europe this winter and is working to broker a deal.<br /><br />Russia is Europe’s biggest gas supplier, meeting around a third of demand. The EU gets about half of the Russian gas it uses via Ukraine.<br /><br />Putin will hold more talks on Friday with Poroshenko, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Francois Hollande, Russia’s RIA news agency reported.<br /><br />RIA cited the Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, saying the four had agreed to meet after the Milan summit.<br /><br />“It was agreed that a few hours after the ASEM summit ends, discussion on Ukraine will continue [between the four],” the agency quoted Peskov as saying.