Putin, Merkel stress maintenance of Ukraine ceasefire - Kremlin

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russian President Vladimir Putin and German Chancellor Angela Merkel discussed the importance of maintaining the ceasefire in Ukraine in a phone conversation, the Kremlin said in a statement on Monday. "The development of the Ukraine situation has been discussed, including the meticulous maintenance of the ceasefire by the sides of the inter-Ukrainian conflict and the efficient truce monitoring on behalf of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE)," the statement said. (Reporting by Alexei Anishchuk; Editing by Sonya Hepinstall)