STOCKHOLM, December 2. /TASS/. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has said he had a professional discussion of the Ukrainian crisis with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Thursday. Moscow believes that it is important to use US influence on the leadership in Kiev for settling the conflict in Donbass.
"We’ve had a rather professional discussion with the Secretary of State on various issues, including Ukraine. The Americans have expressed the wish and the intention to assist the implementation of the Minsk agreements, although we see that their interpretation is somewhat different from the actual wording. Nevertheless, we believe that it will be possible to use their resources, because they have a decisive influence on the regime in Kiev. May they go ahead, we are not against it, but to do this it has to be agreed from the outset what basis for interaction we have. There can be only one basis - the direct interpretation of the Minsk agreements," Lavrov told the media on the sidelines of the OSCE foreign ministers’ meeting.
Washington argues that it has no intention to undermine or expand the Minsk format, he said, but would like to use its capabilities in bilateral contacts with the participants in the process. Lavrov stressed that Moscow by no means shirked any contacts regarding the Ukrainian settlement, but was adamant their vector should be made pretty clear.
"We are prepared for any contacts, we do not shirk any contacts. It is essential to understand the goals that we seek," he stressed.
Lavrov recalled that at the ministerial level meeting in Stockholm Russia circulated the texts of the agreements concerning the Ukrainian settlement in the context of growing criticism against Moscow. Lavrov asked the participants in the OSCE foreign ministers’ meeting to closely study the Minsk Accords, the declaration adopted by the four leaders of the Normandy Quartet and the UN Security Council’s resolution before making any comments on Ukrainian affairs.
"Possibly, many will then develop the understanding that they should use a little bit different rhetoric," Lavrov said.
He pointed out that NATO countries were obsessed with the intention to link the Minsk Accords with Russia’s actions.
"This obsession with linking all Minsk agreements with Russia’s actions is demonstrated by all NATO countries," Lavrov said.
He recalled that in his statement at the conference Blinken "started reading out a list of demands Russia, he argued, should comply with under the Minsk Accords, including the ceasefire, pullback of heavy weapons and a stop to any economic interference in Donbass."
"Of course, I explained everything to him, and then at our bilateral meeting cited to him certain clauses of the Minsk Accords, which state unequivocally that all these issues shall be addressed through a direct dialogue and through consent to be achieved between Kiev, on the one hand, and Donetsk and Lugansk, on the other," Lavrov stressed.
Minsk Accords
A yet-to-be achieved peace settlement in Donbass shall rely on a package of agreements concluded in Minsk. Alongside ceasefire, pullback of weapons, an amnesty and restoration of economic ties they envisage a fundamental constitutional reform in Ukraine with the aim of achieving decentralization of power and establishing a special status for some areas of the Donetsk and Lugansk regions. This plan, signed in February 2015 under the title Package of Measures for the Implementation of Minsk Accords has not been translated into life to this day. Kiev refuses to act on the political part of the deal.
At the summit level Russia has repeatedly expressed commitment to the 2015 Minsk agreements. Moscow sees them as the sole basis for a settlement of the internal conflict in Ukraine.