MOSCOW, 6 March. /TASS/. Russia may support independence of the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics if no other options remain for the settlement of Ukrainian crisis, the chairman of the upper house’s international affairs committee told Kommersant.fm radio on Friday.

"I don’t rule out this option if and when all other possibilities to reach political settlements will be exhausted," said Konstantin Kosachev in reply to the query whether Russia should support creation of ‘an independent Novorossiya or Donetsk People’s Republic-Luhansk People’s Republic’ if their authorities announce this decision.

The parliamentarian said that the decision on the future of these territories must be reached on the basis of mutual respect for the interests of the conflicting sides.

"Russia should not say ‘no, you must certainly be a territorially integral state’ or ‘no, you will never be a territorially integral state, you must divorce,’ or ‘only federalization’, ‘only autonomy’ or ‘only decentralization’," Kosachev said.

"And pay attention that we don’t exercise such approach, and the president as well as the foreign minister have repeatedly said "Multivariance".The main thing is to see accord and mutual content in arriving at the final option, he said.

"The chance for it is colossal, and this is the only thing that Russia, the United States, the European Union, NATO and everybody else must support," Kosachev said.