MOSCOW, October 22 /TASS/. The Minsk agreements are not fully observed, the shelling of Donetsk continues and peaceful civilians are dying, the Russian Foreign Ministry Commissioner for Human Rights, Democracy and Rule of Law Konstantin Dolgov said in an interview with the Rossiya 24 TV news channel on Wednesday.

On September 5, the Contact Group for Ukraine that gathered in Minsk signed a 12-point protocol on the peace settlement in south-east Ukraine. The two key points included agreements on ceasefire and exchange of prisoners. On September 20, members of the Contact Group met in Minsk for the second time to sign a memorandum on implementing the ceasefire regime. The document consists of 9 points, including a ban on the use of all types of weapons and the withdrawal by the sides in conflict of all weapons of destruction with a caliber exceeding 100mm to 15 kilometers from the contact line.

Dolgov noted that the Minsk agreements were not being observed in full measure. “We see the same picture when Donetsk and its suburbs are being shelled. Peaceful civilians are dying,” the human rights ombudsman said noting, however, that the intensity of shelling was much less than prior to the Minsk agreements.

“Of course, the current situation in Ukraine cannot be compared to what it used to be before the Minsk agreements were signed. The main task today is to implement the Minsk agreements in full measure,” the Russian diplomat said.

Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Ukrainian counterpart Petro Poroshenko confirmed in a telephone conversation on Tuesday that it was necessary to contribute to peace settlement in south-east Ukraine and observe the ceasefire.

The Russian president said the parties in conflict were violating the ceasefire and insisted that the demarcation line that would mark the border of a buffer zone should be drawn to the end. Putin noted specially that Russia was not a party in conflict.