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Russian and US top diplomats discuss implementation of Minsk accords

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Kremlin hopes US will urge Kiev to implement Minsk accords

MOSCOW, June 22. /TASS/. Russian and US top diplomats Sergey Lavrov and Rex Tillerson have discussed the situation in the Donbass region in a telephone conversation pointing to the need for additional efforts to implement the Minsk agreements, the Russian Foreign Ministry reported on Thursday.

"They raised the issue of the situation in southeastern Ukraine in the context of the need for additional efforts to fully implement the Minsk agreements," the ministry said.

The Minsk agreements are the basis for the peaceful settlement in the Donbass region. They envisage not only the cessation of hostilities, the withdrawal of weapons, amnesty and resumption of economic ties but also a deep constitutional reform in Ukraine, which should result in the decentralization of power taking into account a special status of some districts of the Donetsk and Lugansk regions.

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