Putin says Ukraine headed for the dismantling of the Minsk agreements

Kiev has headed for the dismantling of the Minsk agreements and completely ignores all the possibilities for the peaceful restoration of the territorial integrity of Ukraine through dialogue with the Donbass, Russian President Vladimir Putin said.

“It is obvious to everyone that the current authorities in Kiev have set a course for the dismantling of the Minsk agreements. So far, there has been no progress on many fundamental issues, in particular, on constitutional reform, amnesty, local elections, legal aspects of the special status of Donbass,” Putin said at a press conference following talks with French President Emmanuel Macron, TASS writes.

The Russian leader noted that the well-known “Steinmeier formula” has not yet been enshrined in Ukrainian legislation, according to which the parties to the Minsk talks made some concessions.

Putin added that he discussed with Macron the unwillingness of the Kiev authorities to comply with the obligations under the Minsk package of measures and agreements in the Normandy format, including those reached at the summits in Paris and Berlin.

“Kyiv continues to ignore all possibilities for the peaceful restoration of the country’s territorial integrity through direct dialogue with Donetsk and Lugansk,” Putin summed up.