MOSCOW, February 21. /TASS/. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has told his German counterpart, Annalena Baerbock, that the responsibility for the escalation along the contact line in Donbass rests on Kiev, the Russian foreign ministry said on Monday after their telephone conversation.

"Concerning the situation in southeastern Ukraine, Lavrov stressed that Kiev is responsible for the escalation of tensions along the contact line in Donbass and the frequent provocations that triggered the humanitarian evacuation of the unrecognized republics’ civil population to Russia," the ministry said. "Lavrov once again called on the German side as a participant in the Normandy format to exert maximal pressure on the Ukrainian authorities in order to compel them to take a more constructive position."

It was agreed that the implementation of the Minsk agreements is the only way to reach lasting peace and settle the Ukrainian conflict, it said.

The ministers continued to exchange views on the key aspects of the current international agenda in the context of the February 15, 2022, talks between Russian President Vladimir Putin and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz in Moscow, it added.

"The sides also touched upon issues on the bilateral agenda, including the German government’s discriminatory actions against the RT German-language channel and prospects for the Petersburg Dialogue Russia-German public forum, which is being blocked by the German side," the ministry said.