MOSCOW, October 14. /TASS/. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov had sent a dozen letters to his French and German colleagues regarding Kiev’s steps, which contradict the Minsk agreements on settling the Donbass conflict, but he says he’s been getting the runaround in response.
"I have probably sent a dozen letters to my colleagues in France and Germany, directly drawing their attention to the absolutely unacceptable steps being taken by Ukrainian officials, including President [Vladimir] Zelensky, the head of the delegation at the Contact Group’s talks and the foreign minister which run totally counter to the Minsk agreements. The answers are absolutely pointless and they are merely runaround replies," Lavrov said in an interview with Sputnik, Komsomolskaya Pravda and Govorit Moskva radio stations.
As an example, the Russian top diplomat provided explanations to his European colleagues regarding the statements by Zelensky, who calls for reviewing the content and the order of fulfilling the Minsk agreements.
"They tell me: ‘we are still committed to them’. As an example, I cite that in violation of Ukraine’s Constitution and Ukraine’s international commitments [there is] direct discrimination against the Russian language in the laws on language and education, and in practice. They answer: ‘yes, we will pay attention to this in the framework of the OSCE and the Council of Europe’," Lavrov elaborated. "This is another example of how they believe they are above the law and above Russia’s level. Their superiority complex is very dangerous," he warned.
In February 2015, participants of the Contact Group for settling the crisis in Donbass signed the Package of Measures for the Implementation of the Minsk Agreements, known as Minsk-2, which had been earlier backed by the Normandy Four (Russia, Germany, France and Ukraine) leaders. The document envisages not only a ceasefire, a withdrawal of military hardware, amnesty and the restoration of economic ties, but also constitutional reform in Ukraine aimed at ensuring the decentralization of powers while taking into account a special status for Donbass. However, this plan has not been fulfilled due to Kiev’s stance.
Lately, Kiev has started calling for updating the Minsk agreements. Meanwhile, the authorities of the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics have stated many times that there is no alternative to the Minsk peace deal for ironing out the crisis and the document was not subject to change. Russia maintains a similar stance.