MOSCOW, July 9. /TASS/. The leaders of Russia, France and Germany share the opinion that the current situation in Ukraine is unacceptable partially because of Kiev’s dodging implementation of the Minsk agreements, Russian President’s press secretary Dmitry Peskov said in an interview with the Rossiya-1 television channel on Sunday.
"All the three leaders (Vladimir Putin, Emmanuel Macron and Angela Merkel - TASS) share the opinion that the situation we currently have is absolutely unacceptable. The Minsk agreements are not implemented, by Kiev to a larger extent, especially their political provisions," he said.
"It is difficult to deny," Peskov stressed. "The Minsk agreements have a list of steps Kiev is to make in political terms. No one can deny that Kiev is not doing it."
Minsk agreements
The Package of Measures to fulfil the September 2014 Minsk agreements, known as Minsk-2, that was signed in Minsk on February 12, 2015, envisaged a ceasefire between Ukrainian government forces and people’s militias in the self-proclaimed republics in Donetsk and Lugansk (DPR and LPR) and a subsequent withdrawal of heavy weapons from the line of engagement. The deal also laid out a roadmap for a lasting settlement in Ukraine, including local elections and constitutional reform to give more autonomy to the war-torn eastern regions.
These agreements however have not been implemented until now. The Ukrainian side has been dodging implementation of the package’s political provisions citing security problems as a reason. Ukraine has failed to carry out a constitutional reform, to enforce a law on the region’s special status and to pass a law on elections in Donbass. Instead, it insists on regaining control over the border with Russia, which is to take place only after the elections, as is envisaged by the Minsk agreements.