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Ukraine’s government uses Minsk agreements as base for its policies - Security Service

KIEV, November 29. /TASS/. The Minsk agreements on settlement of the situation in Ukraine’s east make the base, which Ukraine’s government is using in formation of its policies, deputy head of the National Security and Defence Council’s information centre Vladimir Polevoy said commenting on present tendencies in connection with the Minsk process.

“We have not made any changes,” he said, claiming “only Ukraine” is following provisions of those agreements.

On September 20 in Minsk, the Trilateral Contact Group on Ukraine comprising representatives of Ukraine, Russia and the OSCE adopted a memorandum outlining the parameters for the implementation of commitments on the ceasefire in Ukraine laid down in the Minsk Protocol of September 5.

The document contains nine points, including in particular a ban on the use of all armaments and their withdrawal 15 kilometers from the contact line from each side. The OSCE was tasked with controlling the implementation of memorandum provisions.

The document was signed by OSCE representative to Ukraine Heidi Tagliavini, ex-Ukrainian president Leonid Kuchma, Russia’s ambassador in Kiev Mikhail Zurabov, Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) Prime Minister Alexander Zakharchenko and LPR head Igor Plotnitsky.

The talks also involved first deputy DPR premier Andrey Purgin and LPR Supreme Council chairman Alexey Karyakin.

The parties to the Ukrainian conflict agreed on cessation of fire during OSCE-mediated talks on September 5 in Belarusian capital Minsk two days after Russian President Vladimir Putin proposed his seven-point plan to settle the situation in the east of Ukraine.

The long hoped-for ceasefire took effect the same day, but reports said it has been occasionally violated.

Ukraine’s parliament on September 16 granted a special self-rule status to certain districts in the Donetsk and Lugansk regions for three years. Elections to local self-government bodies were set for December 7. The Verkhovna Rada also passed a law on amnesty for participants of combat activities in Ukraine’s troubled eastern regions.

On November 15, Poroshenko instructed the government to stop the activities of government agencies, banks and enterprises in the zone of military operation and to withdraw personnel from the region.

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