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No intentions to break Minsk agreements, says Russian top diplomat

Sergey Lavrov also noted that Moscow agreed with the Steinmeier Formula, a mechanism for the steady implementation of several provisions of the Minsk accords

MOSCOW, December 27. /TASS/. Russia has no interest in destroying the Minsk agreements, but those who violate them are going to pay for it, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told the Solovyov Live YouTube channel on Monday.

"We are not interested in this, and we are not going to dismantle [the Minsk accords]," the top diplomat noted. "But if someone else breaks them, let them face the consequences."

According to Lavrov, Russia is ready for the Normandy format talks, if its partners "stop playing the fool," replacing the efforts to force Kiev to fulfill the agreements with the desire to discuss the progress of their implementation negotiated during the Paris summit in October 2015. "Maybe it would be better to first implement them, and then we meet? Because otherwise the decisions of the Paris summit and the meeting of leaders, in general, are going to be devalued," the foreign minister said.

Lavrov also clarified that Russia’s stance on this issue envisages "not a step back from the Minsk accords." "We have already taken several steps. First, the Minsk agreements themselves are already a concession. It was a great challenge to persuade Donetsk and Lugansk to sign them, which means renouncing eventual independence after the implementation of the Minsk accords letter by letter," the head of the Russian diplomatic service mentioned.

Furthermore, Lavrov noted that Moscow agreed with the Steinmeier Formula, a mechanism for the steady implementation of several provisions of the Minsk accords. "There was a dispute - [former Ukrainian President] Pyotr Poroshenko did not want to put the paragraph on the special status [of Donbass] in the agreement until the voting results are revealed <…>. [This] demonstrates how a person relates to signing the Minsk agreements," the Russian top diplomat stated. "According to the formula, the status would be agreed in advance and enter into force on election day, and then it will be activated from the day when the observers report that the polls were fair and transparent. That is all right," the foreign minister said.

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Ukraine crisis Ukraine Sergey Lavrov Russian Foreign Ministry Eastern Ukraine

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