MOSCOW/KIEV, April 13 (Xinhua) -- A war between Russia and Ukraine looks unlikely to happen at any time soon as all parties involved are making intensified efforts to ease the tensions in the Donbass region.

Though trading criticisms against each other and preparing for armed conflict, Russia and Ukraine are seeking a diplomatic solution together with Germany, France and Turkey.

Experts from Moscow and Kiev agreed that a hot war between Russia and Ukraine will inflict losses on both sides and thus is a last resort.

DIPLOMATIC EFFORTS

Political advisers of the Russian, German, French and Ukrainian leaders, or the so-called "Normandy Four," are working towards holding a summit on eastern Ukraine's Donbass region.

"This is very difficult contact and it requires great patience from all the four sides," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said, commenting on their work.

Last week, Russian President Vladimir Putin and German Chancellor Angela Merkel held a phone conversation, calling on all parties to exercise restraint.

Late last month, Putin, Merkel and French President Emmanuel Macron held a video-conference, with the Donbass tensions as one of their priorities.

On Saturday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky travelled to Istanbul to discuss the issue with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who said that "the current crisis must be resolved peacefully by diplomatic means" and "our main goal is that the Black Sea continues to be a sea of peace, tranquility and cooperation."

According to Ukrainian media reports, Zelensky plans to visit France later this week and hold a trilateral meeting with Merkel and Macron in the coming days.

While many hope that Putin and Zelensky could talk directly, Peskov said on Monday that the Kremlin has not yet received any call from Kiev for such dialogue.

Peskov hinted that the Kremlin does not refuse the interaction between the two presidents as "Vladimir Putin always has something to say when it comes to defusing the tensions and preventing a potential war."

WAR UNLIKELY

"No one is going to move towards a war, and no one at all accepts any possibility of such a war," Peskov said on Sunday in the latest of a string of remarks by senior Russian officials that Moscow does not want a war with Ukraine.

"Fighting is meaningless for both sides ... But a PR war nonetheless won't stop because it is beneficial for both Russia and Ukraine to garner public support at home," Russian political analyst Leonid Radzihovsky said.

Volodymyr Volya, head of the Kiev-based Institute of Politics, expressed his belief that armed clashes with Ukraine will hit Russia harder.

"Escalation of the tensions could be perceived in the West, particularly in Germany, as a reason to suspend the construction of the Nord Stream-2 natural gas pipeline project," Volya said.

Igar Tyshkevich, an expert with the Ukrainian Institute for the Future, said that the reported Russian troops deployment to the Ukrainian borders is aimed at exerting diplomatic and psychological pressure.

Tyshkevich said that a large-scale war is currently unlikely since Russian media outlets have not yet prepared the public for a dramatic turn of events, a practice Moscow did ahead of previous armed conflicts.

In the view of Russian senator Alexei Pushkov, Ukraine will not start a war with Russia because Kiev is well aware of the consequences.

"But Kiev will provoke Russia through shelling Donbass and other types of military activities. Provocative actions are key for Ukraine as an instrument to establish good ties with the West," Pushkov said through his Telegram channel.

Ruslan Pukhov, director of the Moscow-based Centre for Analysis of Strategies and Technologies, also thinks that the likelihood of a large-scale Russia-Ukraine war remains low, but a lot depends on the position of the United States.

"We, in general, do not know whether Washington is holding back Zelensky or inciting violence. It may also be behaving in such a way that the Ukrainian side could perceive as instigation," Pukhov said. Enditem

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