MOSCOW, June 6. /TASS/. The Ukrainian authorities are not ready to make progress on any of Minsk 2 provisions that need to be coordinated with the Donbass region, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Monday following talks with his Finnish counterpart Timo Soini.
According to the minister, the Minsk agreements "clearly state that all aspects of the Ukrainian settlement, beginning with the military ones, specifically, the ceasefire and Donbass restoration should be dealt with through direct dialogue between Kiev, Donetsk and Lugansk."
"Unfortunately, the Ukrainian authorities are not ready to make progress on any of these directions in accordance with their commitments, on any provisions of the Minsk agreements, which put it bluntly that all actions need to be coordinated with Donbass," Lavrov said.
"This is becoming too noticeable to try to hide it from the public. This is seen by both the members of the "Normandy format" and our American partners who, in parallel with the "Normandy format," are trying to ensure any onward movement by the Ukrainian leadership," the minister said. "Russia cannot solve problems for the parties to the Minsk agreements, but Russia can certainly help, and we are trying to do that," he said.
"All Ukrainian leaders are now giving priority to the idea of the need to ensure complete ceasefire for a long period of time before one could talk about any elections," the minister noted. "However, all proposals we put forward, including an increase in the number of OSCE observers, their round-the-clock deployment in security areas along the separation line, their deployment on a similar basis in the areas where heavy weapons are stored - all this so far remains suspended."
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"To ensure the military aspects of the Minsk agreements, a year ago none other than President Poroshenko asked President Putin to send Russian officers to this region who, together with the officers of the Ukrainian General Staff, would help resolve the issues emerging on the ground," Lavrov said. "Such joint center was set up. We said that both representatives of Donbass representatives and representatives of the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission should take part in its work. We thought that this would ensure transparency and impartiality of the actions taken in the region."
However, the Ukrainian side blocked the work of this mechanism in every possible way, and now insists that the Ukrainian and Russian officers from this joint center go to different populated localities, Lavrov noted. "I can draw only one conclusion - that means that the Ukrainian leadership is by no means interested in having an effective, transparent and fair mechanism for monitoring and suppressing ceasefire violations." "Let alone the political aspects of the Minsk agreements, which state in bold print certain things that the Ukrainian authorities bluntly refuse to comply with.
The Ukrainian authorities are not interested in having an objective mechanism to expose ceasefire violations, the minister went on.
"The Ukrainian leadership is now raising the issue of having these Russian and Ukrainian officers from the Joint Center on Control and Coordination leave for different settlements," he said. "I draw just one conclusion: it is inexpedient for Kiev to have an objective, transparent mechanism for revealing ceasefire violations," he said.