MOSCOW, June 25. /TASS/. The latest round of talks in the Normandy format earlier this week in Paris might become an impetus for Kiev to launch real efforts towards the peaceful settlement in Donbas, the envoy of the Donetsk republic to the Contact Group, Denis Pushilin, said on Thursday.
On Tuesday, the foreign ministers of Russia, Germany, France and Ukraine in their joint statement confirmed commitment to the Minsk agreements and called for de-escalation of the conflict and full compliance with the provision on heavy weaponry withdrawal in Donbas.
"Unfortunately, taking in consideration that the past several meetings of the Contact Group have shown a rather weak dynamics of the discussion and decision-making process, I believe that the meeting in Paris was necessary in principle," Pushilin was quoted by the Donetsk news agency as saying.
Pushilin also said "such pushes should impel the Ukrainian side for the real negotiation process rather than simulating it."
The self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic, in its turn, does utmost for the peaceful settlement of the conflict and complies with all the points of the February 12 package of measures on implementation of the Minsk agreements, Pushilin stressed.
The peace deal struck by leaders of Russia, Ukraine, Germany and France envisaged a ceasefire between Ukrainian government forces and people’s militias starting from February 15.
This was to be followed by heavy weaponry withdrawal, prisoner exchange, local elections in Donbas, constitutional reform in Ukraine and establishing working sub-groups on security, political, economy and humanitarian components of the Minsk accords.
The Ukrainian forces and militias of the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Lugansk republics have repeatedly accused each other of violating ceasefire and other points of the Minsk agreements.