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Russian ambassador calls on US to push Ukraine toward implementing Minsk accords

The Russian diplomat warned the United States against trying to find in the Minsk agreement "something that could allow Kiev not to implement" them

WASHINGTON, December 3. /TASS/. Russian Ambassador to the United States Anatoly Antonov has called on the United States to push Kiev’s authorities toward implementing the Minsk agreements in their original edition rather than trying to find any non-existent implications in them.

"I was bewildered to hear the [American] colleagues, White House officials saying more and more often that we interpret the Minsk agreements differently. I don’t think we should look for any hidden meaning in the Minsk agreements. The Minsk agreements were endorsed as a binding resolution of the [UN] Security Council and the Minsk agreements should be implemented as they are, in the editions they were signed and endorsed, from A to Z," he stressed.

The Russian diplomat warned the United States against trying to find in the Minsk agreement "something that could allow Kiev not to implement" them. "I think this is a path of confrontation, deviation from the peace settlement of the situation in southeastern Ukraine," he noted.

The Russian side has repeatedly stressed that it is not a party to Ukraine’s domestic conflict in Donbass and stands for strict implementation of the Minsk agreements it signed as a mediator of the peace settlement process.

A peace settlement of the conflict in Donbass rests on the Package of Measures, known as Minsk-2, that was signed by the Trilateral Contact Group on Ukraine comprising senior representatives from Russia, Ukraine and the European security watchdog OSCE on February 12, 2015, after marathon 16-hour talks between the leaders of the Normandy Four nations, namely Russia, Germany, France and Ukraine. The 13-point document envisages a ceasefire between Ukrainian government forces and the people’s militias in the self-proclaimed republics in Donetsk and Lugansk and the subsequent withdrawal of heavy weapons from the line of contact. The deal also lays out a roadmap for a lasting settlement in Ukraine, including an amnesty, prisoner swaps, the resumption of economic ties, local elections and constitutional reform to give more autonomy to the war-torn eastern regions.

The plan remains unimplemented to this day, largely due to Ukraine’s stance. Kiev keeps on refusing to act on the political items of the agreement.

Russia has repeatedly reiterated its commitments to the Minsk agreements, which, according to Moscow, have no alternatives.

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