Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has said that Ukraine must maintain a neutral status in order to prevent further division of the war-torn country.
"In order to prevent the further disintegration of Ukraine, it is essential that the country retain its neutral status," Xinhua news agency quoted Lavrov as writing in an article published Wednesday in the Serbian magazine Horizons.
As the article, titled "Russia's priorities in Europe and the world", got published, US Treasury Secretary Jack Lew was on a visit to Kiev, where he said his country would "continue to work with our allies to increase the pressure on Russia".
