RUSSIAN Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has argued that only federal autonomy for eastern Ukraine can bring peace there.

Mr Lavrov was speaking to reporters following a meeting of the so-called Normandy Format states of Ukraine, France, Germany and Russia in the German city of Munich on Saturday.

“A constitutional reform is indispensable for Donbass to achieve its permanent status,” he said, “and must also lead to the appropriate legislation — and not just for three years, but on a permanent basis.”

A civil war has been raging in coal-rich and heavily industrialised Donbass — comprising Lugansk and Donetsk provinces — since the Western-backed Maidan coup in Kiev in 2014.

German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier urged all sides to abide by 2015’s February 15 Minsk II peace deal, which includes commitments to federalisation and an amnesty for Donbass anti-fascists to allow participation in elections.

But Mr Lavrov warned that the refusal by Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko’s government to recognise self-proclaimed Donetsk and Lugansk people’s republics as equal partners in the negotiations was jeopardising the agreement.

“A discussion on amnesty, as well as the modality of the local elections, must take place — something that Kiev systematically avoids,” Mr Lavrov said.

Mr Poroshenko, however, called for the return of control of the Ukrainian-Russian border in the Donbass to Kiev.

And he condemned Russia’s role in Syria as well as Ukraine, calling it “a demonstration that we live in a completely different universe with Russia.”

At the Munich security conference on the same day Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev accused Nato of restarting the cold war.

He told the conference that the deployment of troops to Russia’s borders and sanctions over its reunification with the Crimea could “only aggravate” tensions.

His comments came after Nato secretary-general Jens Stoltenberg said: “Russia’s rhetoric, posture and exercises of its nuclear forces are aimed at intimidating its neighbours, undermining trust and stability in Europe.”

US Secretary of State John Kerry said that the EU and US would continue to “stand up to Russia’s repeated aggression” and noted that Washington plans to quadruple military spending in Europe.