OSCE chief to visit Moscow on Wednesday: Kremlin

The head of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe, Swiss President Didier Burkhalter, will visit Moscow on Wednesday for talks on the crisis in Ukraine, the Kremlin said.

Burkhalter will fly to Moscow on May 7, the Kremlin said in a statement after President Vladimir Putin spoke by phone with German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

“Putin and Merkel stressed the importance of effective international action — especially by the OSCE — in reducing the tensions in Ukraine,” Russia said in a statement.

Putin stressed the need to establish dialogue between the pro-Western leaders in Kiev and the pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine, who control more than a dozen towns.