OSCOW, November 11. /TASS/. Work on the Minsk agreements on peaceful settlement in eastern Ukraine will continue in 2017, and Moscow hopes it will be more dynamic, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister, Grigory Karasin, told TASS on Friday.
"We are in November now and less than two months is left before the end of the year. The hopes that the Kiev authorities will get down to fulfilling all the obligations they undersigned, pass the needed laws and comply strictly with all the provisions of the Minsk agreements are slim," he said. ""That is why this work will continue but still we hope it will be more dynamic, Kiev will display more responsibility, and real progress will be made."
"Unfortunately, so far there is nothing in the work of the Contact Group or in terms of fulfilling the obligations assumed by the authorities in Kiev within the framework of the Normandy Four that would give us much hope," he went on to say. "All the rest is the domain of politicians, professionals. Let us be persistent."
According to Karasin, everything depends on the Ukrainian authorities. "Without them, we will not be able to do anything, no matter how hard we try, insist or demand. Everything depends on Kiev’s responsibility. Let’s hope it will come," he added.
"The year 2015 elapsed, the year 2016 is coming to a close, the year 2017 is about to begin. What is important is the sides’ commitment to negotiations," he said. "There is no limitations period for the Minsk agreements. They are open-ended."