All news

Ukraine's parliament speaker says he does not support Minsk Agreements

Andrey Parubiy stressed that Russia would not implement the Minsk Agreements, and Moscow’s "plans on Ukraine may be stopped only by force and international sanctions"
Ukraine’s Verkhovna Rada Speaker Andrey Parubiy Maxim Nikitin/TASS
Ukraine’s Verkhovna Rada Speaker Andrey Parubiy
© Maxim Nikitin/TASS

KIEV, July 4. /TASS/. Ukraine’s Verkhovna Rada Speaker Andrey Parubiy has said that he had not supported the Minsk Agreements from the very start.

"I have not supported the Minsk Agreements from the very start. I thought, and I still think that the Minsk Agreements were signed in the conditions that were unfavorable for Ukraine," Parubiy told TSN TV channel on Monday.

He added that Russia will not implement the Minsk Agreements, and Moscow’s "plans on Ukraine may be stopped only by force and international sanctions."

However, Russia has repeatedly stressed that it is a not a party in the conflict in Ukraine and acts as a mediator in the Contact Group on settling the situation in east Ukraine. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that "Russia cannot implement the Minsk Agreements, because the Minsk Agreements do not envisage this."

Peskov also noted that Moscow "continues to treat with deep misunderstanding the attempts to link the sanctions against Russia with implementation of the Minsk Agreements." The Kremlin spokesman stressed that Moscow "still notes Kiev’s absolute unpreparedness and reluctance to fulfill those commitments signed by the Ukrainian leader."

Minsk Agreements on Ukraine

The Minsk accords were signed on February 12, after negotiations in the so-called "Normandy format" in the Belarusian capital Minsk, bringing together Russian President Vladimir Putin, French President Francois Hollande, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Ukrainian President Pyotr Poroshenko.

The Minsk accords envisage ceasefire, weaponry withdrawal, prisoner exchange, local election in Donbass, constitutional reform in Ukraine and establishing working sub-groups on security, political, economy and humanitarian components of the Minsk accords.