MOSCOW, July 29. /TASS/. Russia expects Kiev to adhere to the appeal of UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon in ensuring a ceasefire on all fronts during the upcoming Rio Olympic Games, Russia’s representative to the European security agency, OSCE said at a session of its Permanent Council on Friday.
"We must state that the Contact Group’s work has been stalling on most directions so far," Alexander Lukashevich said. "Kiev has not been making any real political moves, referring to tensions along the disengagement line, which Kiev itself stokes," he said in a speech posted on the website of the Russian Foreign Ministry.
"I’m beginning to think that the war in Donbass is a convenient pretext for easily diverting domestic policy failures and masking the inability of the Ukrainian leadership to comply with the Minsk commitments it had undertaken," the diplomat said.
"Meanwhile, the situation along the disengagement line is further deteriorating, and danger of a new large-scale combat operation is increasing," the ambassador added.
"We expect that Ukraine will listen to the UN secretary general’s appeal to ensure a ceasefire on all fronts during the Olympic Games," he said.
In an earlier video appeal posted on the UN website, Ban Ki-moon called for an Olympic truce, urging all warring parties to lay down their weapons and put aside differences during the upcoming Rio Olympics.