“One of the main problems is that our colleagues are acting as if Kiev is voluntarily fulfilling the Complex of Measures. Actually, this is just the opposite,” Alexander Lukashevich said.
Kiev has spent a whole year increasing its army’s military potential after signing the Minsk agreements, Russia’s envoy to the OSCE said Friday.
“Kiev has actually spent the year after signing the Complex of Measures by increasing the Ukrainian Army’s potential,” Alexander Lukashevich said.
He said that new military forces and weapons have been deployed to the line of contact with the eastern regions of Donetsk and Luhansk, and that foreign instructors and mercenaries have been invited.
“The danger of returning to a military solution to the crisis has grown significantly. It seems our foreign partners not only trying not to notice, but sometimes are directly indulging in similar dangerous steps,” Lukashevich said.
The Minsk agreement, aiming to deescalate the situation in eastern Ukraine, was signed by representatives of the Kiev government and the Donbas militias in February 2015. Key points of the Minsk agreements include a ceasefire, heavy weapons withdrawal from the line of contact in eastern Ukraine, constitutional reforms, including a decentralization of power in the country, and granting a special status to the Donbas region.
The sides failed to fulfill the agreements by the end of 2015, as initially intended. The deadline for completion has been extended into 2016.
