The Minsk agreement on the Ukrainian crisis cannot be realized because there is no law on the country’s elections, German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said Tuesday.
“The thing that’s blocking things is…that is what can help us is the creation of a new legitimacy in eastern Ukraine that would be possible by holding elections, and for that we need a law on elections that has been discussed for six weeks already within the frameworks of the Contact Group, and we are trying to agree this policy within the realms of the subgroups,” Steinmeier said.
“If we can get a law on elections and elections themselves…, then the likelihood of a long-term settlement will arise,” Steinmeier added.
Contacts between Russia and the United States on the Ukrainian crisis would be welcomed if they bring a settlement to the issue in eastern Ukraine, German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said.
“I welcome anything that would lead to settling the conflict,” Steinmeier said in response to Russian Presidential Aide Vladislav Surkov and US Undersecretary Victoria Nuland’s meeting in Kaliningrad.
“I don’t know the contents [of the meeting] and I only know what the press is saying, but if the concluded agreements lead to [settling the conflict], then they would be welcomed,” Steinmeier added.