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Russia's envoy notes lack of progress in implementing Paris summit agreements on Donbass

Russia's OSCE envoy Alexander Lukashevich said that a sustainable ceasefire regime should be established, and a productive dialogue should be launched on coordinating the legal aspects of making Donbass special status permanent
Russia's Permanent Representative to the OSCE Alexander Lukashevich Mikhail Metzel/TASS
Russia's Permanent Representative to the OSCE Alexander Lukashevich
© Mikhail Metzel/TASS

VIENNA, January 30. /TASS/. There is no significant progress in the process of implementing the agreements reached at the Normandy summit in the Contact Group on political track, Russia's Permanent Representative to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) Alexander Lukashevich said on Thrusday at the session of the OSCE Permanent Council.

"At yesterday's session of the Contact Group in Minsk, the sides — Kiev, Donetsk and Lugansk — have not reached any principal agreements. There is still no tangible progress in the implementation of specific tasks set at the Normandy summit on 9 December 2019 on the political track and in the security sphere. All of this is not surprising against the backdrop of statements coming from Kiev about the intention to reconsider the Minsk Agreements," Lukashevich said.

The diplomat noted that a sustainable ceasefire regime should be established, and a productive dialogue should be launched on coordinating the legal aspects of making Donbass special status permanent.

"Another important contribution to de-escalation would be coordinating more locations for disengagement of forces and equipment. I want to remind you that the Normandy Four tasked the Contact Group with achieving it by the end of March 2020. Donetsk and Lugansk submitted their proposals back in December 2019, right after the Paris summit. Kiev's proposals were submitted only a month later, however the sides have still not reached an agreement on any of the suggested options, not even on the promising location in Gnutovo," Lukashevich noted.

Russia's OSCE envoy also said that the Ukrainian forces continue using drones in Donbass. "In violation of the Minsk Agreements, the Ukrainian forces are using unmanned aerial vehicles. Among the recent examples confirmed by OSCE's Special Monitoring Mission in Ukraine is the Ukrainian forces' drone near the settlement of Lebedinskoye in the Donetsk region on January 23 and a similar aerial vehicle near the settlement of Zhelannoye Vtororye on January 26. It is also not calm on the line of disengagement in Petrovskoye," he said.