Live Blog: UN Backs Ukraine Integrity

Information about the meeting, which the Ukrainian side requested, came out Monday evening.

Minutes after news of the meeting first broke, Russia's ITAR-TASS and Interfax news agencies reported the meeting was over.

Lavrov said he and Deshchytsya discussed "contemporary events and tasks, which...need to be considered in order to overcome the internal Ukrainian crisis."

"A wide-ranging constitutional reform -- and let me stress, with the participation of all regions -- must be launched [in Ukraine]. We cannot impose that on Ukrainian figures. Nevertheless, this is our assessment of the situation that has unfolded there. It will be very difficult to overcome a deep internal crisis in Ukraine without it. This is, by the way, what I told acting Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andriy Deshchitsya who asked me for a meeting. We told him what steps, in our opinion, the leaders appointed by the [Ukrainian] Rada (parliament) ought to take in order to finally establish a proper pan-Ukrainian dialogue."

Lavrov said President Vladimir Putin had instructed him to meet with Deshchytsya.

Ukrainian authorities have been requesting a meeting with Lavrov since the government of former Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych fell last month and pro-Russian forces occupied areas in Crimea.

The meeting between Lavrov and Deshchytsya was the highest-level meeting between Russian and Ukrainian officials since former Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych was chased from power in late February.

Since then pro-Russian forces exerted control over Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula and on March 17 a hastily prepared referendum was held to secede from Ukraine and join Russia, sparking the current crisis between Russia and the West, which some have called the greatest threat to security since the Cold War.

Lavrov also met with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry on Monday and they discussed the situation in Ukraine.

Kerry expressed "strong concern" about the build-up of Russian troops along Ukraine's border.

Kerry called on Russia to defuse the situation and said additional sanctions could be placed on Russia if Moscow continues on its present course.

Lavrov downplayed the significance of Russia's possible expulsion from the G8 group of industrialized nations.

"As to the G8, well, you see, G8 is an informal club. No one hands out membership IDs for it. No one can kick anyone out of it. It may be the case that G8 has already fulfilled its mission -- and this is exactly what many people think because since the creation of G20 it is precisely where all economic and financial issues are being discussed."

"We remind Russia of its international obligations, and its responsibilities including those for the world economy. Russia has a clear choice to make. Diplomatic avenues to de-escalate the situation remain open, and we encourage the Russian Government to take them. Russia must respect Ukraine's territorial integrity and sovereignty, begin discussions with the Government of Ukraine, and avail itself of offers of international mediation and monitoring to address any legitimate concerns....

"We will suspend our participation in the G-8 until Russia changes course and the environment comes back to where the G-8 is able to have a meaningful discussion and will meet again in G-7 format at the same time as planned, in June 2014, in Brussels, to discuss the broad agenda we have together. We have also advised our Foreign Ministers not to attend the April meeting in Moscow. In addition, we have decided that G-7 Energy Ministers will meet to discuss ways to strengthen our collective energy security....

"At the same time, we stand firm in our support for the people of Ukraine who seek to restore unity, democracy, political stability, and economic prosperity to their country. We commend the Ukrainian government's ambitious reform agenda and will support its implementation as Ukraine seeks to start a new chapter in its history, grounded on a broad-based constitutional reform, free and fair presidential elections in May, promotion of human rights and respect of national minorities."

"Obviously, we want to continue isolating Russia from the G8 -- [we] see no reason to meet the Russians in the context of the G8, given their current actions. And we'll be coordinating our actions within the G7, including sanctions and broader action against the Russian economy, should they continue to escalate."

"We mostly spoke about Ukraine. We emphasized once again the need to fully respect the results of the Crimean referendum. We spoke of the need to finally take a decisive action in order to prevent carousing of radicals and their infiltration into Ukraine's political life."

"A wide-ranging constitutional reform -- and let me stress, with the participation of all regions -- must be launched [in Ukraine]. We cannot impose that on Ukrainian figures. Nevertheless, this is our assessment of the situation that has unfolded there. It will be very difficult to overcome a deep internal crisis in Ukraine without it. This is, by the way, what I told acting Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andriy Deshchitsya, who asked me for a meeting. We told him what steps, in our opinion, the leaders appointed by the [Ukrainian] Rada (parliament) ought to take in order to finally establish a proper pan-Ukrainian dialogue."

"[U.S. State Secretary] John Kerry at least indicates some understanding of the need to encourage the implementation of the commitments listed in the agreement of February 21. Perhaps it will only be right for it to happen on the ground and for those who are currently in charge of the parliament and the cabinet [in Ukraine] to give it their utmost attention because by far not everything that was agreed upon has been implemented -- illegal armed groupings have not been disarmed, not all occupied buildings have been vacated, not all [Ukrainian] squares have been unblocked, etc."

"We are not forcing anyone to trust us. We have been trusting our Western partners for quite a long time -- since the desintegration of the Soviet Union, when all sorts of promises have been given to us both verbally and in written form, including political commitments on the highest level. Thus we have quite a good understanding of the value of promises from our Western partners."

"What happened in Crimea does not have to do with our vicious intentions or things like that, but with with the need to defend Russians who live there and who have been living there for centuries."

"As to the G8, well, you see, G8 is an informal club. No one hands out membership IDs for it. No one can kick anyone out of it. It may be the case that G8 has already fulfilled its mission -- and this is exactly what many people think because since the creation of G20 it is precisely where all economic and financial issues are being discussed."

"If our Western partners consider the format [of G8] to be absolete, well, let it be then. As far as we are concerned, we are not clinging to this format and we do not consider it a big deal if it fails to come together. For the sake of experiment we can wait a year or two to see what life is like without it."

"No one is asking anyone of any recognition. We took our decision in accordance to our legislation, our constitution, and international law, including the UN Charter. As far as we are concerned -- and the people of Crimea, of course -- this decision has already come into force."