The attempts by Kiev along with some Western politicians to rewrite the Minsk agreements are absolutely inadmissible, Boris Gryzlov, Russia’s Plenipotentiary Representative to the Contact Group seeking peace for southeast Ukraine, said on Wednesday.
“Four years have gone by since the ‘Package of Measures for the Implementation of the Minsk Agreements’ mediated by the OSCE and Russia was signed by representatives from Ukraine and from some areas in the Donetsk and Lugansk regions,” Gryzlov said after a Contact Group regular meeting in the Belarussian capital.
Gryzlov pointed out that the Tuesday discussion at the UN Security Council proved that the intra-Ukrainian crisis might be resolved only on the basis of the Minsk accords.
“The attempts to rewrite and, in fact, intentionally replace these agreements, which the Ukrainian authorities and some Ukrainian politicians are trying to do, are absolutely inadmissible. The crisis could be resolved only through a direct political dialogue between Kiev and Donbass,” he stressed.
Nevertheless, the Russian envoy stated that over the recent four years, Ukraine had been grossly violating its commitments, seeking to derail the Minsk process.
“The Kiev authorities are not engaged in a political dialogue with Donbass, but have been rubberstamping bills in disregard for the Minsk agreements. They have imposed a blockade on the region. Instead of settling the crisis, Kiev’s steps have largely worsened the situation,” Gryzlov concluded.