FILE PHOTO: Top-level Kremlin advisor Vladislav Surkov speaks before then Russia's President Dmitry Medvedev's last annual state of the nation address at the Kremlin in Moscow December 22, 2011. REUTERS/Sergei Karpukhin

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Kremlin aide Vladislav Surkov said that fresh ideas of resolving the Ukraine crisis had emerged during his first meeting with U.S. special representative for Ukraine Kurt Volker on Monday, the Interfax news agency reported.

“The meeting was useful and constructive,” the agency cited Surkov as telling reporters after the meeting held in the Belarussian capital Minsk.

“The two sides proposed fresh ideas and novel approaches for their implementation,” Interfax quoted him as saying, without elaborating. “We agreed that the peace process on the political track, as well as in the sphere of security, can and should go faster.”