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Russia’s envoy slams Kiev’s statements on non-compliance with its obligations

Russia's envoy to the OSCE Alexander Lukashevich said that "making the fate of the Minsk Agreements dependent on the Normandy Four summit scheduled to be held on December 9 is counterproductive"

Russia's Permanent Representative to the OSCE Alexander Lukashevich Mikhail Metzel/TASS

Russia's Permanent Representative to the OSCE Alexander Lukashevich

© Mikhail Metzel/TASS

VIENNA, November 28. /TASS/. Russian Permanent Representative to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) Alexander Lukashevich has said at a meeting of the organization’s Permanent Council in Vienna that Kiev is trying to blackmail the international community by making statements on the possible failure to honor its commitments under the Minsk Agreements.

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According to the envoy, conflicting statements made by Ukrainian officials indicate that Kiev lacks a coherent strategy on Donbass. He cited as an example remarks by Foreign Minister Vadim Pristayko about the possibility of withdrawal from the Minsk process, and the interview by Defense Minister Andrey Zagorodnyuk, who said that if Kiev was dissatisfied with the results of the Normandy Four summit, the Ukrainian armed forces had a plan for returning to their positions in the Petrovskoye and Zolotoye disengagement zones.

"All indications are that Kiev decided to resort to barefaced blackmail of the international community by derailing the fulfillment of its own obligations," Lukashevich said. "Making the fate of the Minsk Agreements dependent on the Normandy Four summit scheduled to be held on December 9 is counterproductive," he noted.

He stressed that the withdrawal from the Minsk process would mean the resumption of bloodshed and more suffering for Donbass residents. "Hopefully, Kiev does not regard the use of force as the notorious Plan B," the diplomat said. At the same time, Ukraine’s statements on "freezing" the situation in the region offer little room for optimism.

According to Lukashevich, they are not conducive to achieving peace, while "the environment created by Kiev ahead of the Normandy Four summit can hardly be described as positive."

The political part of the Package of Measures for the Implementation of the Minsk Agreements signed by the members of the Contact Group on February 12, 2015, is the basis for resolving the conflict in Donbass. In addition to a ceasefire and withdrawal of weapons, the document also envisages a Constitutional reform, which is expected to result in decentralization of power, taking into account the special status of some districts of the Donetsk and Lugansk regions, and elections in the region.

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