MOSCOW. April 15 (Interfax) - Russian President Vladimir Putin and his U.S. counterpart Barack Obama discussed various aspects of the Ukrainian crisis over the phone on Monday evening, the Kremlin press service has reported.
The situation in Ukraine's southeastern regions, "which have been swept by protests against the policies of the current authorities in Kyiv," was at the center of the discussion, it said.
"The Russian side emphasized that the protest actions in Donetsk, Luhansk, Kharkiv, Slaviansk and other cities of southeastern Ukraine came as a result of the Kyiv authorities' reluctance and inability to heed the interests of the ethnic Russian and Russian-speaking population," the press service said.
"Putin called on Obama to make the most of the possibilities available to the U.S. side in order to prevent the use of force and bloodshed," it said.
"In response to concerns voiced by the U.S. president over some alleged Russian interference in the southeast [of Ukraine], the president of Russia noted that such speculation stems from inaccurate reports," the Kremlin press service said.
"The current Ukrainian authorities should primarily think what steps should be taken to allow all of the main political forces and regions to participate in a transparent process of drafting a new constitution that would guarantee citizens' key rights and freedoms, the federal structure of the country and its non-bloc status," it said.
During their telephone conversation, the Russian and U.S. leaders "agreed to continue efforts to look for options of diplomatic cooperation in the context of the Ukraine situation in the run-up to the planned four-party meeting [the European Union, Russia, the U.S. and Ukraine] in Geneva on April 17, 2014," the press service said.