MOSCOW (Sputnik) — Germany expects the United States to use the country’s influence on all the parties concerned to implement the Minsk agreements on the conflict settlement in Ukraine, German Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel said Thursday.
"We would like to see the United States not only informed, but also using their capabilities, as an official representative of the State Department said, to exert influence on those whom they can influence, so that… [the Minsk agreements] were respected," Gabriel said after holding talks with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.
Gabriel is currently paying a two-day working visit to Moscow in order to discuss international issues, including the Syrian and Ukrainian crises and EU-Russia ties.
In February 2015, Kiev forces and Donbass independence supporters signed a peace agreement in the Belarusian capital of Minsk. The deal stipulates a full ceasefire, weapons withdrawal from the line of contact in Donbass, as well as constitutional reforms that would give a special status to the Donetsk and Lugansk People's Republics. Despite the agreement brokered by the Normandy Four states, the ceasefire regime is regularly violated, with both sides accusing each other of multiple breaches, undermining the terms of the accord.