January 18, 2015

 

Since the adoption of the Minsk agreements on September 5, 2014 and September 19, 2014, which were signed by Ukraine, the OSCE, and an official representative of the Russian Federation, as well as by O.Zaharchenko and I.Plotnytskiy, Ukraine constantly demands their full implementation.

 

These agreements, which are built on the Peace Plan of the President of Ukraine for peaceful settlement of the situation in the Donbas region, include all the key elements necessary for the soonest possible de-escalation of the situation, its stabilization and the beginning of the revival of the Donbas region, namely: ceasefire, restore the Ukrainian control at the Ukrainian-Russian state border, full and immediate withdrawal of foreign troops and mercenaries, providing access to a line of demarcation as of September 19, 2014, withdrawal of heavy weapons, release of the hostages and illegally detained persons, improving the humanitarian situation in the region, and holding the local elections under according to the Ukrainian law.

 

Ukraine ensures full implementation of the Minsk agreements and during four long months have been waiting for their implementation by the Russian side and mercenaries.

 

On November 13, 2014 the representatives of Ukraine and Russia signed a working document which provided a clear schedule of implementation of the Minsk memorandum, in particular, bilateral ceasefire, withdrawal of heavy weapons and return to the demarcation line.

 

The Russian side withdrew his signature from this document. Nowadays Ukraine once again appealed to the Russian Federation with a proposal to sign a schedule for implementation of the Minsk agreements as amended on November 13, 2014 and provide the ceasefire starting from January 19, 2015.

 

We believe that it will eusure immediate ceasefire and protection of civilians from attacks of mercenaries and combatants, what had occurred for the last four months, in the region. Beginning of the strict implementation of this document will create appropriate pre-conditions for holding both the consultations of Trilateral Contact Group, and the meeting of Foreign Affairs Ministers of Ukraine, France, Germany and Russia in the nearest future, and in a short while – the Summit of Heads of State and Government in Astana. We demand this plan to be finally completed.

 

Ukrainian side is ready to participate in consultations of Trilateral Contact Group of the Minsk agreements’ signers in any appropriate timeframe, which was clearly demonstrated during the Skype-conference on December 19, 2014 and January 9, 2015, and the last contact group meeting in Minsk on December 24, 2014.

 

The Russian President has repeatedly reaffirmed its commitment to full and unexceptional implementation of the Minsk agreements. This was also announced during the multilateral Summit in Milan.

 

During the last two months the mercenaries and combatants have relentlessly attacked the Donetsk airport, which constantly kept under control by the Ukrainian "cyborgs". Thus, we propose to leave all empty talks about "taking the airport" for the domestic propaganda only.

 

Ukraine unswervingly adhere to all paragraphs of the Minsk agreements and demand the same form Russia.