YALTA, September 11. /TASS/. There is no reasonable alternative to the Minsk agreements on Ukraine, Russian president’s press secretary Dmitry Peskov said on Friday.
"We still think that there is no reasonable alternative in the settlement [of the situation Ukraine] to the Minsk agreements and the implementation of their all provisions," he told journalists. "And in this connection, of course, it is better late than never. We think that all the provisions are to be implemented."
"The issue of extending the Minsk process is rather hypothetical," Peskov said, adding that as of today its terms "have been violated to a larger extent." "Regrettably, Kiev is not implementing the Minsk agreements. We still think any accusations against Moscow of non-fulfilment of the Minsk agreements are absurd because Moscow is no party on which they are binding," Peskov said.
Earlier on Friday, Russian president’s aide Yuri Ushakov said that the Kremlin hoped the package of measures on the implementation of the Minsk agreements would be fulfilled by the end of this year.
"In our view, there is a need to focus first of all on their implementation in due time, by the end of this year. Then, if something is not fulfilled due to these or those reasons, it is evident that the leaders will agree on some extension," Ushakov said. "But now there is no talk of this in practical terms."
The Trilateral Contact Group on Ukraine comprising senior representatives from Russia, Ukraine and the European security watchdog OSCE on February 12, 2015, signed a 13-point Package of Measures to fulfil the September 2014 Minsk agreements.
The Package of Measures, known as Minsk-2, envisaged a ceasefire between Ukrainian government forces and people’s militias in the self-proclaimed republic in Donetsk and Luhansk starting from February 15. The deal 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.