On "Normandy format" anniversary, Foreign Ministry called on Russia to take proper steps to resolve conflict in Donbas
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine called on Russia to take proper steps to resolve the armed conflict in Donbas based on norms and principles of international law.
It's expressed in the statement of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine in connection with the anniversary of the Paris Summit of the "Norman format" Leaders.
They note that in the time since the Paris Summit, Ukraine, with the active mediation of Germany and France, has made every effort to find viable ways to resolve the conflict peacefully and implement the provisions of the Summit Agreed Conclusions of December 9, 2019.
In this context, the Foreign Ministry reminded that thanks to the activation of the Trilateral Contact Group, and the adoption of additional measures to strengthen the ceasefire in July 2020, the security situation in the conflict zone was stabilized; in December 2019 and April 2020 there were mutual exchanges of detainees. In addition, the Ukrainian party has made important initiatives to further deploy forces and resources and continue the de-mining process and has taken other practical steps to ensure a stable security environment and improve the overall humanitarian situation in the conflict zone.
Meanwhile, Foreign Ministry stressed that the Russian party is still without a proper response about Ukraine's initiatives, and proposals to intensify the next stages of the mutual detainees releasing process, ensuring full and unconditional admission of international organizations, especially the International Committee of the Red Cross, to all detainees, opening and proper operation of checkpoints at the delimitative line to ease the situation of civilians.
Also, because of the artificial blocking of the TCG political work, there is no progress in the discussion of Ukraine's working proposals on implementing political aspects of the General Agreed Conclusions of the Paris Summit of December 9, 2019, Foreign Ministry said.
"Instead, we see continued restrictions in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine in Donetsk and Luhansk regions, in particular on freedom of movement and safe and unimpeded access of international organizations, primarily the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission, throughout Ukraine to fulfill its mandate fully, including access to a temporarily uncontrolled section of the Ukrainian-Russian border," Foreign Ministry stressed.
In this context, Ukrainian diplomats noted that illegal crossings of this border section by freight trains and road convoys from Russia delivering weapons to the temporarily occupied territory had become common practice, and the OSCE SMM regularly reports these cases.
"Ukraine reaffirms its willingness to continue working within the Normandy format, which continues to play an important role, maintaining its relevance and demand, and implement the agreements reached by the leaders of the four countries on the TCG platform and implement all agreed steps to resolve the conflict," in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated.
The ministry thanked Germany and France, and the OSCE, for their active mediation in resolving the conflict and efforts to restore peace to Ukraine and restore Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity within its internationally recognized borders.
Finally, Foreign Ministry called on the Russian Federation to take all appropriate steps to continue the work of these formats to implement all decisions taken at the level of leaders of the four countries and to take real steps to resolve the armed conflict based on norms and principles of international law, and respect for state sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine.
