MOSCOW, July 20. /TASS/. Russia is interested in reaching a peaceful settlement of the conflict in southeast Ukraine and will support any agreements between the sides achieved through dialogue, Deputy Chief of the Russian Presidential Staff Dmitry Kozak said in an interview with the French magazine Politique Internationale.
"Moscow’s position regarding the DPR and the LPR (Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics - TASS) remains unchanged. Ukraine and Donbass should peacefully settle their conflict. Russia will be patiently and persistently facilitating this and will back any peaceful agreements between the sides even if it is an agreed initiative to step outside of the Minsk Agreements boundaries," he noted.
"This is their exclusive right," the official underlined. "Any other decisions will destabilize the region that borders Russia with all the negative consequences that will come out of it for our country."
Kozak explained that there can be a "hypothetical" alternative to the Minsk Agreements. "There is a multitude of options, from reaching new deal to rejecting certain agreements. However, as long as none of the subjects that have powers and opportunities to propose and implement these options come forward with such an initiative, there are no alternatives to the Minsk Agreements," he underscored.
At the same time, Ukraine and specific areas of Ukraine’s Donetsk and Lugansk Regions continue to hold the exclusive mandate to introduce these proposals. No other states or international organizations, even those, who played a direct or indirect part in the signing of the Minsk Agreements, have these opportunities. They can only give assessments and recommendations," Kozak added.
However, Kiev, he pointed out, is still yet to submit official proposals about modernizing the Minsk Agreements. "No one, including the two Ukrainian presidents, who served in this capacity since 2014, withdrew Ukraine’s signature under these agreements or statements in support of these agreements by the Normandy Four leaders. No one has initiated a review of the UN Security Council resolution that endorsed the Minsk Package of Measures. Public media statements by officials, including the Ukrainian president, about the alleged unacceptability of the Minsk Agreements for Ukraine are not legislative acts," he explained. In these conditions, the Minsk Agreements in their entirety remain the only political and legal foundation of the peaceful resolution of the conflict, Kozak concluded.