UNITED NATIONS, June 6. /TASS/. The European Union should push Kiev towards complete fulfilment of its liabilities under the Minsk accords, Russian Permanent Representative to the United Nations Vitaly Churkin said on Monday.
"Speaking about relations with the European Union, one cannot but touch upon the most acute crisis in Europe, in Ukraine," he said at a meeting of the United Nations Security Council dedicated to the United Nations’ cooperation with regional organization in maintaining peace.
"Regrettably, Brussels played an unseemly role in this crisis when it categorically insisted on signing an association agreement and actually countenanced those who were seeking to seize power by force," he said.
The Russian diplomat expressed the hope that "Brussels and European capitals will analyze the negative experience of the Ukrainian crisis thoroughly and objectively and this experience will prompt them to take constructive steps."
"As of now, the most critical task is to fulfil the Package of Measures on the implementation of the Minsk agreements, which has no alternative," Churkin stressed.
- DPR, LPR not to observe Minsk agreements ‘in advance’
- Some sanctions to be lifted from Russia when Minsk accords implemented — US ambassador
- Russian envoy: Progress at Minsk talks insufficient for resolving Donbass security issues
- Donbass leaders: Kiev has to coordinate all steps with DPR, LPR as part of Minsk deal
- Savchenko’s pardoning has got nothing to do with Minsk-2 - Putin
- Diplomat: US should make Kiev implement Minsk deal, not pressure Russia
"Strict, consistent and full implementation of this document’s provisions is the only way of settling the conflict in Donbass and solving all problems stemming from it."
He said he hopes "the European Union and European capitals will exert efforts to make Kiev thoroughly implement its liabilities under the Minsk agreements."
"Apart from that, we call on Brussels not to leave out of account the difficult situation in Ukraine in general, especially in what concerns the supremacy of law. Much has been said about it in reports of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights on the human rights situation Ukraine, including in the latest such report release last week," he said.
The Russian diplomat drew attention to the lack of progress in the investigation of such high-profile cases as the Maidan events, the massacre of civilians in Mariupol, the deadly fire in Odessa’s House of Trade Unions. "It is vital to establish the truth and bring those responsible to responsibility," he stressed.