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German FM: Military units in Donbass must be disengaged

Truce violations in the southeast of Ukraine occur mostly because the conflicting parties are too close to each other, Frank Walter Steinmeier said

Germany’s Foreign Minister Frank Walter Steinmeier Sergei Bobylev/TASS

Germany’s Foreign Minister Frank Walter Steinmeier

© Sergei Bobylev/TASS

MOSCOW, March 23. /TASS/. The situation in Ukraine requires mine-clearing operations and disengagement of military units, Germany’s visiting Foreign Minister Frank Walter Steinmeier said after a meeting with his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov on Wednesday.

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"For now we are unable to say how to go about the business of implementing the Minsk Accords either from the political standpoint or from the standpoint of security," he said. "We should keep working on this. I am glad that the OSCE with support from the Normandy format will be conducting the necessary preparations with the deputy head of the OSCE’ Special Monitoring Mission Alexander Hug and chief of the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission Ertugrul Apakan."

Steinmeier said at Wednesday’s meeting the two parties agreed joint action and exchanged ideas.

"In particular, steps to be taken to better the security situation. On the one hand, this concerns the actual verifiability of weapons to be pulled out, and on the other, mine-clearing operations and the disengagement of military units," Steinmeier said.

Truce violations in the southeast of Ukraine occur mostly because the conflicting parties are too close to each other, he said.

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