The Russian and Ukrainian foreign ministers will meet in the southern Russian city of Rostov-on-Don on Monday, a month before Kiev is expected to sign a landmark agreement with the European Union.
Ukraine, inching closer to joining the European Union, is slated to sign an association agreement with the bloc on Nov. 28-29.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and Leonid Kozhara of Ukraine will meet for talks on various bilateral aspects of the two states' foreign policies, Russia's Foreign Ministry said. The ministry did not mention whether Ukraine's EU aspirations are among the issues to be discussed at the meeting.
The meeting, to be held within the framework of the Russian-Ukrainian international cooperation subcommittee, will focus on emerging international challenges and threats, regional conflicts, border disputes, international organizations and other issues.
"Besides, the chiefs of foreign ministries are set to discuss other pressing issues of bilateral Russian-Ukrainian cooperation, and important international problems, including European security," the ministry said.
Lavrov and Kozhara will also pay special attention to settlement in Moldova's breakaway region of Transdnestr. The peacekeeping operation in the region, which has maintained de facto independence from Moldova since a brief war in 1992, is performed by the Collective Peacekeeping Forces, comprising Russian, Transdnestrian and Moldovan troops and 10 Ukrainian observers.
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