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Ukraine might have preserved integrity if it implemented Minsk accords — Lukashenko

The Minsk agreements, reached in 2014-2015 with Russia’s, Germany’s, France’s and the OSCE’s mediation, were meant to serve as a basis for settling the situation in Donbass

MOSCOW, December 9. /TASS/. Ukraine could have preserved its integrity if Kiev had not refused to implement the Minsk agreements, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko said on Friday.

"Should they [Ukraine] have followed the path suggested by Russian President Vladimir Putin and signed an agreement <…> Ukraine would not be broken. <…> It [determination to find a solution to the conflict] was serious. I was a go-between for Putin and [the then Ukrainian President Pyotr] Poroshenko, conveying information, wishes and demands. <…> But they refused. They were getting prepared for war. But back then, no one thought as [Germany’s ex-Chancellor Angela] Merkel and Poroshenko are saying now," he said in an interview with the Moscow.Kremlin.Putin program on the Rossiya-24 television channel.

The Minsk agreements, reached in 2014-2015 with Russia’s, Germany’s, France’s and the OSCE’s mediation, were meant to serve as a basis for settling the situation in Donbass. Kiev, however, delayed the peace process and refused to implement these accords for years only to ultimately say that the political part of this package was unacceptable and refuse from direct dialogue with the Donbass republics.

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Belarus Alexander Lukashenko

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