MOSCOW, September 17. /TASS/. The United States could use its substantial influence over Ukraine to facilitate the implementation of the Minsk Agreements but it is yet to be done, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Friday.
"From what we understand, the US has certain significant influence over developments in Kiev," he said.
The spokesman added, "the US has considerable influence over the decisions made by the Ukrainian leadership." "From this viewpoint, of course, we understand that Americans could yield such influence. At the same time, we note that it has not been done yet," Peskov stressed.
Minsk Agreements
Efforts to find a peaceful solution to the conflict in Donbass are based on the Minsk Agreements, which particularly include moves to declare a ceasefire, withdraw weapons, declare amnesty, restore economic ties and carry out a constitutional reform in Ukraine through dialogue with the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics (DPR, LPR), aimed at decentralizing power and providing a special status to certain districts in the Donetsk and Lugansk regions. However, the negotiation process has stalled because of Kiev’s refusal to fulfill the political provisions of the Minsk accords.
None of the political provisions has been fulfilled, including the constitutional reform and adoption of laws on special status and local elections in Donbass. Instead, Kiev demands that DPR and LPR cede their control over certain sections of the Russian-Ukrainian border, ignoring the fact that, according to the Minsk agreements, this should happen only after local elections.