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Contact Group on Ukraine to announce results of its meeting soon

The subgroup on security issues is currently continuing its talks

MINSK, August 3. /TASS/. The Contact Group on the settlement of the situation in eastern Ukraine will soon announce results of its Monday meeting in Minsk, Belarusian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Dmitry Mironchik told TASS.

"The press will be informed about the results of today’s work very soon," he said.

The subgroup on security issues is currently continuing its talks. The meeting has been going for eleventh hour in a row. The subgroup is discussing demilitarization of Shirokino and is finalizing an agreement on withdrawal of weapons of a caliber less than 100 mm.

The Contact Group and its working subgroups held their meetings earlier on Monday.

The Minsk accords were signed on February 12, 2015 after 14-hour negotiations between the leaders of Normandy Four (Russian President Vladimir Putin, French President Francois Hollande, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Ukrainian President Pyotr Poroshenko) in the Belarusian capital city of Minsk. Concurrently, Minsk hosted a meeting of the Contact Group on Ukrainian settlement.

A 13-point Package of Measures on implementation of the September 2014 Minsk agreements in particular included an agreement on cessation of fire from February 15, withdrawal of heavy armaments, as well as measures on long-term political settlement of the situation in Ukraine, including establishment of working subgroups as priority tasks.

The ceasefire however has been repeatedly violated.

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