MOSCOW, November 9. /TASS/. Moscow welcomes the disengagement of forces of Ukraine and the Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) along the line of contact in Donbass in the Petrovskoye area, Russia’s envoy to the Contact Group on the Ukrainian settlement Boris Gryzlov told reporters on Saturday.
"Today Kiev’s side and Donetsk’s side have started the simultaneous elimination of breaches in the area of disengagement of forces and facilities in the Petrovskoye area. The Russian delegation as a mediator in the Minsk process welcomes that," he said.
The Russian envoy stressed that previously efforts were assumed in that region on disengagement of forces and facilities as well. "However, further fulfilment of obligations were disrupted by Kiev’s side, whereas the date of disengagement has been repeatedly postponed over the past several weeks due to Kiev’s fault," he said.
"Hopefully there will be no more attempts by Kiev to disrupt fulfillment of agreements on disengagement. I expect the disengagement process to be completed successfully in Petrovskoye in the near future," Gryzlov concluded.
Completion of disengagement in Petrovskoye finalizes the process of disengagement of forces and facilities in three pilot security zones on the contact line, namely near Petrovskoye (in the Donetsk People’s Republic, or DPR), Zolotoye and Stanitsa Luganskaya (both in the Lugansk People’s Republic, or LPR). A framework agreement on disengagement of forces in Donbass was signed by Ukraine, Russia, the OSCE and the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Lugansk republics in September 2016.
Disengagement of forces along the line of contact in Donbass is a condition for holding the Normandy Four summit between Russia, Ukraine, Germany and France where further steps to resolve the conflict in the region are planned to be discussed.