MOSCOW, July 29. /TASS/. The Ukrainian authorities seek to take advantage of the Minsk Agreements and negotiations on resolving the situation in Donbass to make sure that sanctions on Russia remain in place, Russian Permanent Representative to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) Alexander Lukashevich said at a meeting of the OSCE Permanent Council on Thursday. His address was published on the Russian Foreign Ministry’s website.

Lukashevich pointed out that instead of taking specific steps to implement the Minsk Agreements, the Ukrainian authorities "generate a large number of various strange initiatives." In particular, according to the Russian diplomat, Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky does not rule out that there will be another platform for talks on Donbass that would be active along with the Normandy Four process. "Kiev does all this to divert attention from its failure to implement obligations under the Minsk Accords and the agreements made by the Normandy Four group," Lukashevich went on to say.

"It seems that such actions are in line with the Ukrainian leadership’s conviction that the Minsk Agreements and the negotiation process itself are there only to maintain the pressure of sanctions on Russia," Lukashevich emphasized.