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Lavrov: Implementation of Minsk-2 stalled by non-fulfillment of political part by Kiev

In Russian Foreign Minister's words, Kiev benefits from provoking military actions in Donbass to divert attention from the non-implementation of the Minsk Agreements
Swiss and Russian Foreign Ministers, Didier Burkhalter and Sergey Lavrov
Swiss and Russian Foreign Ministers, Didier Burkhalter and Sergey Lavrov

MOSCOW, April 11. /TASS/ Russia supports the efforts of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) aimed at the Ukrainian crisis settlement, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told a press conference on Monday after talks with his Swiss counterpart Didier Burkhalter.

"We support the OSCE efforts within the framework of the Contact Group [on the Ukrainian crisis resolution] that discusses the need of full compliance with the Package of Measures that deals with the key issue of settlement through Kiev’s direct dialogue with Donbass," the Russian foreign minister said.

"We support the activity of the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission [to Ukraine] that manages to contain excesses after all and secure the compliance with the ceasefire and heavy weapons’ withdrawal agreements," Lavrov said.

According to him, the fact that "the mission fixes violations from both sides, certainly requires our constant attention and constant work with the sides with a view to reducing to the minimum the number of such violations and ideally - stopping them."

Kiev benefits from provoking military actions in Donbass

In Russian Foreign Minister's words, Kiev benefits from provoking military actions in Donbass to divert attention from the non-implementation of the Minsk Agreements.

"We think that the OSCE (Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe) mission may have been more concrete in what it reports, especially in regard to what concerns build-up of weapons and personnel near the contact line," Lavrov said.

"There is evidence that Ukraine benefits from provoking clashes and military actions [in Donbass] in controlled amounts, as it seems to them, in order to divert attention from the incapability of the authorities to fulfill their commitments on the Minsk Agreements," he added.

Implementation of Minsk-2 stalled by non-fulfillment of political part by Kiev

The implementation of the Minsk Agreements is stalled by non-fulfillment by political part of the agreements by Kiev, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told a press conference on Monday after talks with his Swiss counterpart Didier Burkhalter.

"If the situation developed in the framework of implementing the roadmap [developed by Switzerland’s foreign minister], maybe political aspects of reforms as well, which now hamper the implementation of the Minsk Agreements because Ukrainian government is not yet ready to make relevant steps, maybe everything would have gone differently," Lavrov said.

Moscow is waiting for capable Contact Group and "Normandy format" partners to emerge in Kiev, Sergey Lavrov said on Monday answering a TASS question.

"Talking about the resignation of [Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy] Yatsenyuk and whether it may change anything in relation Kiev’s implementation of the Minsk Agreements, we are, of course, waiting for capable partners in the Contact group and in the ‘Normandy format’ to emerge. We see how everyone is absorbed by internal intrigues in Ukraine," he added.

The Minsk accords were signed on 12 February 2015, after negotiations in the so-called "Normandy format" in the Belarusian capital Minsk, bringing together Russian President Vladimir Putin, French President Francois Hollande, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko. The package of measures envisages ceasefire, weaponry withdrawal, prisoner exchange, local election in Donbass, constitutional reform in Ukraine and establishing working sub-groups on security, political, economy and humanitarian components of the Minsk accords.