The President expressed his profound condolences over the death on October 2 in Donetsk of Swiss citizen and International Committee of the Red Cross employee Laurent Etienne Du Pasquier.
The two presidents exchanged views on the situation in Ukraine and emphasised the need for the parties to the conflict to respect in full the agreements reached in Minsk at the Contact Group’s meeting, above all the ceasefire agreement. They made a positive assessment of the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission’s work and said the mission should be expanded.
Mr Putin and Mr Burkhalter expressed support for a thorough investigation into the causes of the Malaysian airliner’s crash and the cases of mass graves of civilians. They also discussed the issue of ensuring OSCE observers’ safety, including during the upcoming parliamentary election in Ukraine on October 26.
The two presidents agreed to continue their contacts.