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Kremlin: Donbass conflict may become frozen if party of war retains power

The Russian presidential spokesman views the Minsk agreements as a key solution to the crisis

MOSCOW, January 15. /TASS/. The conflict in Ukraine over Donbass is running the risk of becoming frozen in case the party of war remains in power, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said in an interview with Argumenty i Fakty weekly newspaper published on Tuesday.

"This [prospect of turning the situation in Donbass into a frozen conflict] depends on Kiev and if the party of war is there. In this case there are no chances that the conflict will be stopped," Peskov said. "On the contrary, if there is the party of peace and diplomacy, then there is a chance," he noted.

The Kremlin spokesman was not upbeat about the current situation in Ukraine. "Things are really bad," he believes. "At least, we do not hear voices on the Ukrainian political arena that would call for sobriety and for solving the accrued problems through dialogue rather than through confrontation," Peskov said.

UKRAINE CRISIS

On the contrary, according to Peskov, the new deterioration of ties with Kiev now is related to the election campaign carried out by Ukrainian President Pyotr Poroshenko. "He is desperately seeking to catch up with the rating of [his rival in the upcoming presidential race, ex-premier Yulia] Tymoshenko. To this aim he needs various methods, including such as provocation [the November 25 violation of Russia’s state border by Ukrainian warships] in the Kerch Strait," Peskov noted.

The Russian presidential spokesman views the Minsk agreements as a key solution to the crisis. "In order to move forward, Ukraine needs to deal with the consequences of its civil war and reconsider its course towards the complete rejection of the country’s two major regions, and only then, probably, Kiev will decide to start fulfilling the Minsk agreements. Without this it will be very difficult to move somewhere," he said.

On February 12, 2015 the Contact Group and also the heads of the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics signed the Minsk agreements, which had been approved by the Normandy Four (Russia, Germany, France and Ukraine) leaders.

The Minsk accords envisaged ceasefire and also laid out a roadmap for a lasting settlement in Ukraine, including local elections and constitutional reform to give more autonomy to the war-torn eastern regions. The Ukrainian forces and militias of the self-proclaimed republics have repeatedly accused each other of violating ceasefire and other points of the Minsk agreements.

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