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Minsk accords make no mention of peacekeepers — Lavrov

Sergey Lavrov believes all statements by Ukrainian President Pyotr Poroshenko are aimed at shunning the responsibility for the signature under the Minsk agreements

MOSCOW, April 25. /TASS/. All statements by Ukrainian President Pyotr Poroshenko are aimed at shunning the responsibility for the signature under the Minsk agreements, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Tuesday following talks with OSCE Secretary General Lamberto Zannier.

The Ukrainian president’s press service earlier reported that Pyotr Poroshenko, in a telephone conversation with US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson on April 23, proposed to intensify the discussion of the issue of deploying a UN international peacekeeping contingent to the Donbass region.

"As for Pyotr Poroshenko’s statements, he makes a lot of statements. It is difficult for me to comment on them. All these statements have only one objective, namely, to shun the responsibility for the signature Poroshenko put under the Minsk agreements,’ the minister emphasized . "The Ukrainian side has done nothing it was obliged to do under various pretexts."

According to Russia’s top diplomat, "any incident, long before an attempt is made to investigate it, is used to divert attention from the Minsk agreements." "The Minsk accords make no mention of any peacekeepers," Lavrov said. "The Minsk agreements support the role played by the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission (SMM)."

The minister noted, though, that "this does not mean that there cannot be any additional agreements." "However, additional agreements, especially the deployment of peacekeepers, envisage the consent of all parties to the conflict," Lavrov said. "Therefore, Poroshenko should talk with Donetsk and Lugansk, the way the Minsk agreements oblige him, something he has evaded all the time."