AKIPRESS.COM - Foreign ministers from Russia, Ukraine, the U.S. and the European Union started talks in Geneva on Thursday morning in the biggest diplomatic push so far to ease tensions between Kiev and Moscow, MarketWatch reported.

The four-way meetings are the highest-level direct talks between Russia and Ukraine since March.

Western officials are arriving with the threat of further sanctions on Russia in what they hope will force serious negotiations. Discussions are expected to focus on the growing crisis in eastern Ukraine, where local protesters have occupied government buildings in a number of towns.

Ukraine has sent troops to oust the “separatists” that Kiev and Washington say are backed by Moscow. Three protesters were killed in an overnight clash that marked the bloodiest conflict in the operation so far.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov was the last of the ministers to arrive in Geneva Thursday morning. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry met with EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton beforehand.

The talks will seek to contain the escalating crisis and start a process to ease tensions before Ukraine's May 25 presidential election, but no sudden breakthroughs are expected, Western officials said.

Diplomats said the test is to design a package of steps that can win Russian buy-in without pressing Kiev into political changes it doesn't want. Moscow has backed a call by protesters in Ukraine's east to give them much greater autonomy from Kiev.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said Thursday morning the Geneva talks are a chance to find compromise on Ukraine, but he accused the Kiev government of committing a “serious crime” for sending troops into the east.

The U.S. and the EU sought to raise the ante on Russia to engage in meaningful talks. The U.S. had additional sanctions prepared. The EU, meanwhile, is currently deciding how many Russian officials to add to a travel ban and asset freeze list and the bloc's executive.

Russia has repeatedly denied it is directly involved in the latest violence in eastern Ukraine and said it has troops on the border only as part of a military exercise.

Wednesday evening, acting Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Deschchytsia told CNBC he hoped the talks will produce “a deescalation on the ground.”