Russia urges West to persuade Kiev to comply with Minsk deal

MOSCOW, November 25. /TASS/. Moscow is planning to urge its Western partners to convince Kiev to strictly honor its commitments under the Minsk agreements during the "Normandy Four" (Russia, Germany, France, Ukraine) meeting on November 29, the Russian Foreign Ministry reported on Friday.

"The process of the internal Ukrainian settlement is difficult," the ministry said. "Neither the provisions of the Minsk Package of Measures of February 12, 2015, nor the agreements, including the top-level ones reached in the ‘Normandy format’, designed to promote the early resolution of the Ukrainian crisis have been implemented in full. The work of the Contact Group and its working subgroups has stalled. The responsibility for that lies with the authorities in Kiev who are openly sabotaging the implementation of the Minsk accords."

This being so, Russia believes its task is "to urge its Western partners who have an influence on Ukraine’s leaders to persuade Kiev to strictly comply with its obligations within the Minsk process."

"Taking into account an agreement reached by the ‘Normandy Four’ leaders at the summit in Berlin on October 19, 2016, and the invitation extended by Germany and France, the Russian Foreign Ministry is preparing for a new ‘Normandy format’ meeting of foreign ministers in Minsk on November 29," the statement said. "We see it as a continuation of the joint practical work to achieve a peaceful solution and give a fresh impetus to it."

The Russian Foreign Ministry noted that this meeting is "to support efforts not only on security, humanitarian and economic issues, but also in promoting the package of political reforms, something our Western and Ukrainian ‘Normandy format’ colleagues constantly ‘forget’ about, for some reason."

The ministry recalled that the "Normandy Four" leaders agreed at a meeting in Berlin on October 19 that all activities on the political track and in security issues should be simultaneous and consistent."