WASHINGTON, January 11. /TASS/. British Prime Minister David Cameron will meet with US President Barack Obama next week and the two leaders will discuss among a wide range of issues Russia’s alleged involvement in the ongoing Ukrainian conflict, the White House said in its statement.
“The President and Prime Minister Cameron will have a working dinner at the White House on Thursday, January 15 and a meeting in the Oval Office on Friday, January 16,” the statement said. “The two leaders will discuss a range of issues including economic growth, international trade, cybersecurity, Iran, ISIL, counterterrorism, Ebola, and Russia’s actions in Ukraine.”
“The United Kingdom is an uniquely close friend and steadfast ally, and the President looks forward to beginning the New Year by working with Prime Minister Cameron on these issues and reaffirming the enduring special relationship between the United States and the United Kingdom,” the statement added.
The West repeatedly accused Moscow of its alleged military involvement in the embattled southeastern Ukraine and imposed a wide range of sanctions in regard to Russia. Moscow dismissed the allegations and answered with retaliatory sanctions against the West last summer.
However, speaking last month at his annual news conference, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that those Russians taking part in combat operations in the southeast of Ukraine were volunteers and not mercenaries.
“All people who feel deep down in their heart it is their calling to voluntarily participate in combat operations in the southeast of Ukraine are not mercenaries, because they do not get money for that,” Putin said.
According to the data provided by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UN OCHA) over two weeks ago, over 4,700 people were killed and 10,300 wounded since mid-April last year as a result of armed clashes between Ukrainian troops and local militias in the Donetsk and Lugansk regions during Kiev’s military operation to regain control over the breakaway territories.
A ceasefire was agreed upon at talks between the parties to the Ukrainian conflict mediated by the OSCE on September 5 in Belarusian capital Minsk two days after Russian President Putin proposed his plan to settle the situation in the east of Ukraine.
Numerous violations of the ceasefire, which took effect the same day, have been reported since.
A memorandum was adopted on September 19 in Minsk by the Trilateral Contact Group on Ukraine comprising representatives of Ukraine, Russia and the OSCE. The document outlined the parameters for the implementation of commitments on the ceasefire in Ukraine laid down in the Minsk Protocol of September 5.
The nine-point memorandum in particular envisioned a ban on the use of all armaments and withdrawal of weapons with the calibers of over 100 millimeters to a distance of 15 kilometers from the contact line from each side. The OSCE was tasked with controlling the implementation of memorandum provisions.