Kremlin: Putin Said Kiev Failed to Enact Minsk Accords in Normandy 4 Phone Talks

Russian President Vladimir Putin said that Kiev's inaction is the primary reason for the failure of the implementation of the Minsk agreements, the Kremlin spokesman said on Tuesday.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — Russian President Vladimir Putin pointed to the Ukrainian government's failure to enforce the set of ceasefire agreements during phone talks with German, french and Ukrainian heads of state on Monday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.

"The situation continues to stall with the implementation of the Minsk agreements and the stall is caused, as President Putin noted, by Kiev's inaction," Peskov told reporters Tuesday.

On the subject of Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko's proposal to deploy a peacekeeping mission in the region known as the Donbas, he stressed that "it is possible only with the consent of the parties to the conflict."

"As you know, Russia is not a party to the conflict," he stressed.

Kiev entered into deadly armed confrontation with Donbass militia in 2014, after the self-proclaimed Lugansk and Donetsk People’s Republics (LPR and DPR) refused to recognize the new Ukrainian government that came to power in what they perceive to be a coup. The sides to the conflict continue to exchange fire, despite the ceasefire deal that reached in Minsk in February 2015. The peace deal was brokered by the so-called Normandy Four (Normandy Quartet) that comprises Russia, France, Germany and Ukraine.