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Lavrov urges Europe to work harder towards implementing Minsk deal

The Russian top diplomat said earlier the chances to achieve Ukraine's crisis settlement and implementation of the Minsk deal are nowhere near in sight for the time being
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov  Artyom Korotayev/TASS
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov
© Artyom Korotayev/TASS

MOSCOW, March 27. /TASS/. Moscow would like its European partners to exert greater efforts for the sake of achieving the implementation of Minsk-2 Accords, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said as he began talks with his Italian counterpart Angelino Alfano in Moscow on Monday.

"All of us are concerned about what is happening in Ukraine, not just in the east of Ukraine, but in that country in general," Lavrov said. "We would like to see our European partners be more persistent in pressing for the implementation of the Minsk Accords."

As Lavrov said on March 23, "the chances of achieving a settlement (of the crisis in Ukraine - TASS) and implementation of the Minsk Accords are nowhere near in sight for the time being."

"This is so first and foremost because the Ukrainian leadership lacks the political will and realistic vision of its country’s future and due to its attempts to settle Ukraine’s problems not on the basis of pragmatic interests for the sake of national accord and prosperity, but on instructions from foreign patrons who do not care at all about the aspirations of Russians and Ukrainians," Lavrov said then.