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Parties to Ukrainian conflict must implement Minsk accords — Merkel

We need to find ways for the peaceful resolution of the conflicts, the German chancellor said, noting that the sanctions imposed by the West were a political move
German Chancellor Angela Merkel EPA/DANIEL KARMANN
German Chancellor Angela Merkel
© EPA/DANIEL KARMANN

BERLIN, April 1. /TASS/. All parties to the Ukrainian conflict should make efforts to implement the Minsk agreements, German Chancellor Angela Merkel told a joint news conference following talks with Kyrgyzstan’s President Almazbek Atambayev.

"The Minsk package is an important milestone on the way to achieving peace, it should be implemented," she said. "All parties to the conflict should make efforts for its implementation," Merkel added.

"We need to find ways for the peaceful resolution of the conflicts," the German chancellor said, noting that the sanctions imposed by the West were a political move, "since we saw a violation of international law." "Now we are working on the search for a diplomatic solution to the problem," she added.

The package of Measures for the Implementation of the Minsk Agreements was adopted on February 12 following talks of the "Normandy Four" member-countries (Russia, Ukraine, France and Germany) and meeting of the Contact Group on Ukraine. The document envisages the ceasefire in the separate districts of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions from February 15, withdrawal of heavy weapons from the line of demarcation between Kiev-controlled units and the militias and other measures on long-term political settlement in Donbas.