Ukraine is not going to follow the Minsk agreements of its own free will, so it must be forced to do so. This statement was made on Sunday by Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on the air of the Russia-1 TV channel in the Moscow. Kremlin. Putin “.
“If you leave her alone with herself, with her conscience, of course, she will not do anything. She must be forced. This is precisely why the Normandy format was created, but Berlin and Paris are still skimping on their obligations. We draw their attention to the fact that this must be done, “Lavrov said.
The first Minsk agreements were signed in September 2014 by a trilateral contact group (plenipotentiaries from Russia, Ukraine and the OSCE). They ended the active part of the hostilities in the south-east of Ukraine, which had been going on since April of the same year. The second Minsk agreements stopped the escalation of the conflict in February 2015 in the Debaltseve area. In December 2019, in Paris, the leaders of the Normandy Four adopted a communiqué, according to which the Minsk agreements on the settlement of the conflict in eastern Ukraine “continue to be the basis of the format’s work”.
In November, the Russian Embassy in the United States positively assessed the statement of the White House press secretary Jen Psaki about support for increasing efforts to resolve the conflict in Donbas in accordance with the Minsk agreements.
“We can only welcome the logic when, instead of hackneyed Russophobic cliches, experts give balanced and reasonable advice to the US administration. First of all, that Kiev must finally stop sabotaging the Minsk agreements, ”the embassy said in a statement.
The embassy stressed that the 2015 agreements are legally binding. Russia expects that the US authorities “will listen to sound judgment and influence the strategic partner to fulfill their obligations in close coordination with Donetsk and Lugansk.”
Larov previously said that Kiev is becoming more and more arrogant in relation to the Minsk agreements and to Russia. On December 1, during the “Government Hour” at the Federation Council, he noted that Paris and Berlin have been promising Moscow “for many years” to “reason” Kiev, but this is not happening. As a result, the Foreign Ministry was forced to publish the correspondence with its French and German counterparts on the settlement of the situation in Ukraine.
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