MOSCOW, September 15. /ITAR-TASS/. Russia and Belarus put emphasis on Monday on the importance of strict compliance with provisions of the ceasefire protocol signed in Minsk by the there-party Contact Group on Ukraine, Russian Foreign Ministry reported on Monday after talks between top Russian and Belarusian diplomats.

At their talks on Monday, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Grigory Karasin and Belarus’s Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to Russia Igor Petrishenko, focused among other issues on the situation in Ukraine, ministry sources said.

The two diplomats also exchanged opinions on topical issues of Russian-Belarusian foreign policy cooperation, including work to pave the way for a joint session of the two foreign ministries’ collegiums, they added.

The Contact Group for Ukraine signed a ceasefire protocol and adopted a 12-point peace plan for eastern Ukraine at its meeting in Minsk on September 5.

It calls for ending active offensive operations by armed forces, armed units and militia groups in southeast Ukraine in the Donetsk and Luhansk areas; withdrawing Ukrainian armed forces units to a distance that would make it impossible to fire on populated areas using artillery and all types of multiple launch rocket systems; allowing for full and objective international monitoring of compliance with the ceasefire and monitoring of the situation in the safe zone created by the ceasefire.

The plan also suggests excluding all use of military aircraft against civilians and populated areas in the conflict zone; organizing the exchange of individuals detained by force on an ‘all for all’ basis without any preconditions; opening humanitarian corridors for refugees and for delivering humanitarian cargoes to towns and populated areas in Donbass — Donetsk and Luhansk regions; and making it possible for repair brigades to come to damaged settlements in the Donbass region in order to repair and rebuild social facilities and life-supporting infrastructure and help the region to prepare for the winter.

The Contact Group includes Ukraine, Russia and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe.