Claims made by U.S. Special Representative for Ukraine Kurt Volker directly contradict the Normandy Format's efforts to settle the situation in eastern Ukraine, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said.

"I very much hope that Mr. Volker remarks, which are directly at odds with what Germany, France, Russia and Ukraine have been doing in the Normandy Format, will not hamper preparations of this roadmap [for settlement]," Lavrov said at a briefing at the Association of European Businesses in Moscow on Tuesday.