REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, PARIS -- Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Wednesday resisted Western pressure to meet his Ukrainian counterpart but said talks with the United States and others would continue in coming days.

At the end of a day of intense diplomatic negotiations in Paris, Lavrov left the French foreign ministry without having held a hoped-for meeting with acting Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andriy Deshchytsya.

The United States, backed by Britain, France and Germany, had urged Lavrov to agree to a face-to-face meeting as a signal of Moscow's willingness to de-escalate the current stand-off with the West over Russia's actions on the Crimean peninsula.

In a short statement, Lavrov said his departure did not mean an end to efforts to resolve the current crisis.

"We had a long day of discussions on Ukraine," the veteran Russian diplomat said. "We are all concerned at what it is happening there.

"We agreed to continue those discussions in the days to come to see how best we can help stabilise, normalise the situation and overcome the crisis.

"The discussions will continue, and that's it."

Lavrov had earlier held two bilateral meetings with US Secretary of State John Kerry. After the second session, the Russian claimed it had been agreed that Ukraine should uphold a February 21 deal signed between now-ousted president Viktor Yanukovich and the opposition.

US officials denied that this had been agreed, insisting that such a deal could be reached only with the involvement of the Ukraine government that has replaced Yanukovich's administration.

Ikuti Whatsapp Channel Republika