Experts from Russia and Ukraine may meet as soon as this week for the first round of talks on the association agreement between Ukraine and the EU, Russian Economic Development Minister Alexei Ulyukayev told Interfax in Minsk.

He affirmed that he would likely head the Russian portion of this group. "We already have the format we'll work in. This concerns intensifying efforts," Ulyukayev said.

Asked to expand on this, he said he was not ruling out "conducting the first round of talks by the end of this week, probably in Moscow."