MOSCOW, March 5. /TASS/. Documents on security, earlier agreed by the Contact Group in the Belarusian capital, have been handed over to the Special Monitoring Mission (SMM) in Ukraine after being signed by leaders of the self-proclaimed People’s Republics of Donetsk and Lugansk (DPR and LPR), Vladislav Deinego, LPR envoy at the peace road map talks in Minsk said on Saturday.
"Yesterday, the DPR leader (Alexander Zakharchenko) put his signature under the texts of two agreements made in five copies - one for each side," Deinego told the Lugansk Inform Center. "Three copies have been handed over to the OSCE representatives as those are meant for the OSCE, Russia and Ukraine. The other two have been left, respectively, in the DPR and LPR."
On March 2, the Contact Group, seeking to find a solution to the conflict in eastern Ukraine, initialed two agreements at a regular meeting in Minsk. The agreements envision the creation of demining zones near the line disengaging opposing sides in Donbass and the ban on firing drills in the 30-kilometer zone near the contact line.
Later in the day, LPR Head Igor Plotnitsky has put his signature under the documents and the DPR leader, Alexander Zakharchenko, inked them on March 4.
Minsk accords
Minsk provisions backed by leaders of the "Normandy Four" group assembling Russia, Ukraine, Germany and France in the Belarussian capital in February 2015 envisaged a ceasefire between Ukrainian forces and eastern region people’s militias starting that month.
A 13-point package sought withdrawal of heavy weapons from a line disengaging Kiev troops and militias alongside measures for a long-term political settlement in Donbass.