Russian President Vladimir Putin called on the Ukrainian authorities to begin implementing measures to resolve the situation in the east of the country in accordance with the Minsk Agreements, despite domestic political difficulties.
“We understand all the difficulties of the domestic political process in Ukraine, but if all interested parties want to reach a final settlement, we need to go through the implementation of the Minsk agreements,” Putin said during a Berlin press conference.
Putin noted that Merkel “spoke in detail about the resolution of the intra-Ukrainian crisis.”
“According to the mutual opinion, the Minsk agreements remain an uncontested basis for normalizing the situation in the South-East of Ukraine. It is important that the specific tasks set during our recent meetings in the “Norman format” be implemented. We really hope that the Ukrainian side will begin to implement those agreements on a political settlement, extending the law on the special status of Donbass, ” he added.