UN deputy secretary-general Jan Eliasson appealed Wednesday for dialogue and de-escalation in the Ukraine crisis as he urged participants to refrain from Cold War reflexes.

UN deputy secretary-general Jan Eliasson appealed Wednesday for dialogue and de-escalation in the Ukraine crisis as he urged participants to refrain from Cold War reflexes.

Eliasson said it was "in everybody's interest" to find a settlement in Crimea.

"I would hope that we have come to the end of the Cold War," Eliasson said as Russia pushes to maintain its influence over Ukraine, a former member of the Soviet Union.

"It isn't in the interest of anybody to reawaken these ghosts of the past."

Instead, he appealed for a "peaceful settlement" and for Russia and Ukraine to sort out their issues at the negotiating table.