Full implementation of the Minsk agreements will be the key to resolving differences between Russia and NATO. This was announced on February 11 by former German Defense Minister Franz Josef Jung.
The Normandy format plays a decisive role in this matter, and both Russia and Ukraine must comply with the Minsk agreements, he added.
With the implementation of the Minsk agreements, which turn seven years on February 12, then the presidents of Russia and Ukraine, Vladimir Putin and Petro Poroshenko, agreed, Jung recalled.
“When this happens, I am sure we will come to a peaceful and reasonable solution,” RIA Novosti quoted him as saying.
On February 11, the representative of the self-proclaimed Luhansk People’s Republic (LPR) in the tripartite contact group, Rodion Miroshnik, said that Kiev is doing everything to wind up any agreements. According to him, the work of the TCG to resolve the situation in Donbass is actually blocked.
On the same day, British Defense Minister Ben Wallace said that at a meeting in Moscow with his Russian counterpart Sergei Shoigu, the current situation around Ukraine was discussed, the parties pointed out the importance of complying with the Minsk agreements.
On February 10, negotiations of the Normandy Four represented by representatives of Russia, Germany, Ukraine and France were held in Berlin. This round of diplomatic solutions to the Ukrainian crisis was another attempt by the parties to reach an agreement. Dmitry Kozak, deputy head of the Russian presidential administration, called the Berlin round of talks fruitless, although he had high hopes for it in January.
French President Emmanuel Macron said on February 8 that Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky had reaffirmed Kiev’s desire to implement the Minsk agreements. Whereas on February 9, Russian Ambassador to Belarus, Russian Plenipotentiary Envoy to the contact group to resolve the situation in Donbass, Boris Gryzlov, said that what is happening in Ukraine is the worst possible scenario.
In Paris, on January 26, the parties agreed on the need to maintain a truce and a ceasefire in Donbass, regardless of the discrepancies in the Minsk agreements, and also took an inventory of them. However, according to Kozak, even then the result of the conversation turned out to be “almost zero”.
Since 2014, the Kiev authorities have been conducting a military operation against the inhabitants of Donbass, who refused to recognize the results of the coup d’état and the new government in Ukraine. At the same time, Kiev blames Moscow for the current situation. Russia has repeatedly stated that it is not a party to the intra-Ukrainian conflict. The issues of its settlement are being discussed in the Minsk and Normandy formats.
Source: IZ
Jane Stock is a technology author, who has written for 24 Hours World. She writes about the latest in technology news and trends, and is always on the lookout for new and innovative ways to improve his audience’s experience.
