MOSCOW, January 15. /TASS/. Calls for shifting the responsibility for settling the Ukrainian crisis on Russia are nothing more than another attempt to distort the essence of the Minsk Agreements, Russia’s envoy to the Organization for Security and Coordination in Europe (OSCE) Alexander Lukashevich said at the organization’s Permanent Council meeting.
"We expect active promotion of the full implementation of the Minsk Package of measures approved by a UN Security Council resolution from (Germany’s) presidency (in OSCE)," Lukashevich said adding that "this document has no alternative."
He also stressed that "it is principally important to ensure direct dialogue between Kiev and Donetsk and Lugansk on all aspects of settlement, including political process, fully use the capabilities of the Contact Group and its sub-groups with support from participants of the ‘Normandy format’ (Russia, Germany, France, Ukraine)."
"Confrontational mottos voiced here, calls for shifting the responsibility for settlement of the Ukrainian crisis on Russia are nothing more than another attempt to distort the essence of the Minsk Agreements. The cost of such steps is dragging the settlement process," Lukashevich noted.
He added that OSCE Special Monitoring Mission (SMM) in Ukraine should play an important stabilizing role as it represents the most effective and broadest international presence in Donbass that deserves trust of all sides because it promotes dialogue. "We support its continuing work in strict compliance with the existing mandate," he concluded.