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Ukraine border control can be restored only in line with Minsk agreements — diplomat

A concept laid down in the Minsk agreements must be a basis for upcoming work on a final settlement in Ukraine, to which the UN Security Council has called, Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman says

MOSCOW, February 19./TASS/. Settlement in Ukraine, including control over the border, should proceed in line with the Minsk agreements, Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Alexander Lukashevich told a briefing on Thursday, commenting on Ukrainian president’s initiative to deploy international peacekeepers in the conflict zone, including on the border with Russia.

"We don’t know details of this initiative, a possible mandate of the peacekeepers," Lukashevich said.

"We proceed from the fact that a concept laid down in the Minsk agreements of February 12 must be a basis for upcoming work on a final settlement in Ukraine, to which the UN Security Council has called," he added.

He said the Minsk agreements envisaged restoration of Kiev’s control over the border after local elections in Donbas.

Kiev government, not rebels, that continues talking about war

It is the Kiev government officials, not representatives of the self-proclaimed East-Ukrainian republics that continue talking about resumption of combat operations, Alexander Lukashevich went on to say.

"Active plans for an expansion of combat actions are built by government officials in Kiev, including people from the top echelons of power, not by the self-defence forces in Donbas and their latest statements and actions in the Debaltsevo area testify to this," Lukashevich said.

"The statements made by self-defense leaders, including (Alexander) Zakharchenko (the Prime Minister of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic TASS) sounded like warnings rather than acts of aggression," he said. "They suggested that the Minsk accords presupposed dialogue in the name of peace and not at all the continuation of fratricide."

"Ukrainian President undersigned the roadmap for advancing to peace, too, and he once again stressed the importance of implementation of the Minsk accords in a telephone conversation with other heads of state in the ‘Normandy format’," Lukashevich said.