The sides are close to agreeing on a number of wordings in the agreements with Ukraine concerning its neutral status and security guarantees, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said.

"The neutral status [of Ukraine] is being seriously discussed, clearly, together with the security guarantees. This is exactly what President Putin said at a press conference in February: any acceptable variants, any mutually acceptable guarantees of security for Ukraine and all countries, including Russia, except NATO enlargement," Lavrov said in an interview with the RBC television channel.

"This is what is being discussed at the negotiations. There are absolutely specific wordings and, in my opinion, the sides are close to agreeing on them," he said.