MOSCOW, December 30. /TASS/. Russia calls on the European Union to work on strengthening security in Europe by stimulating the Ukrainian authorities to fulfill the Minsk Agreements, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Thursday.

The Russian diplomat thus commented on an interview of EU top diplomat Borrell for the German daily Die Welt, in which he called the Russia-outlined security guarantees unacceptable and warned that talks could not take place without the European Union.

"We call on the EU not to engage in a rhetoric exercise and to work on strengthening security in Europe and implement direct duties, first of all, by stimulating the Ukrainian authorities to fulfill the Minsk Package of Measures," the diplomat said.

The Minsk Accords lay the basis for a peaceful settlement of the Donbass conflict. The accords stipulate ceasefire, the pullout of weapons, amnesty, and the resumption of economic ties along with a profound Constitutional reform in Ukraine based on a dialogue with representatives of the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics, which should result in power decentralization, considering the special status of separate districts of the Donetsk and Lugansk regions. However, the negotiating process has come to a deadlock over Ukraine’s refusal to implement the political provisions of the Minsk Accords.