MOSCOW. Feb 7 (Interfax) - Russian President Vladimir Putin held a telephone conversation with German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Tuesday, the Kremlin press service said.
"The sides discussed the situation in the south-east of Ukraine which has seen a sharp escalation in recent days because of the Ukrainian side's provocative acts. They expressed serious concern over the escalation of the armed confrontation, which has claimed human lives and has caused substantial destruction of civil infrastructure and residential houses in a number of populated localities of Donbas," the press service said.
"The Russian president and the German chancellor spoke out in favor of immediately restoring the ceasefire regime and supported the efforts of the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission in this context," it said.