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Putin says both sides in Ukraine’s conflict fail to implement Minsk accords

During his meetings in Milan, Putin discussed Ukraine’s developments in detail with his counterparts

© Alexei Nikolsky/TASS

MILAN, October 17. /TASS/. Russian President Vladimir Putin said that the warring sides in Ukraine are not implementing the Minsk accords to the full extent.

“The landmark for Ukraine’s settlement must be the Minsk agreements,” Putin told reporters after the Asia-Europe Meeting summit. “Unfortunately, these agreements are not being implemented by the both sides, either by Novorossiya’s militias or by Ukraine’s representatives.”

The Russian president said that “the Minsk agreements are not being implemented to the full extent due to a number of reasons - objective and subjective.”

“I proceed from the fact that all the sides should work for putting these agreements into practice,” he said.

During his meetings in Milan, Putin discussed Ukraine’s developments in detail with his counterparts.

“We spoke about security issues, a ceasefire and disengagement of the warring sides and at the same time coordinated our positions almost on the maps although in this we should rely on the opinions of specialists and negotiators,” he said.

“As you know, Russia is not a side in the conflict and so we can only help the warring sides to solve the problems that have emerged recently,” Putin said.

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