Moscow Concerned Over Kiev's Readiness to Ignore Minsk Deal - Foreign Ministry

Russia is concerned by Ukraine's readiness to "receive signals" about the possibility of military scenarios in Donbas in violation of the Minsk peace agreements, the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement on Friday.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) – In August, Ukrainian authorities held consultations with former Croatian officials. According to media reports, the officials from the two countries discussed the issues of "return of uncontrolled territories" and Croatia's experience in this field.

"Kiev's readiness to receive such signals is of particular concern as it [Kiev] is deliberately ignoring own well-defined obligations under the Minsk agreements. The references to any 'power scenarios' with regard to Donbass look especially flawed and immoral now, in the first days of the 'school' truce confirmed within the framework of the 'Normandy' format," the statement said.

The Russian ministry added that it called on Zagreb to influence Kiev to make it adhere to the Minsk deal.

Kiev launched a special military operation in Ukraine’s southeast in April 2014, after local residents refused to recognize the new Ukrainian authorities, which came to power as a result of what they regarded as a coup. In 2015, a peace agreement was signed between Ukraine’s conflicting sides in the Belarusian capital. Despite the fact that the deal stipulated a full ceasefire in Donbass, violations both on the part of Kiev forces and local militias have been reported.

Following the dissolution of Yugoslavia, a number of ethnic conflicts emerged across former Yugoslavian republics. In 1995, Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina attacked the troops of the Republic of Serbian Krajina on the territory of the modern Croatia. As a result of the operation, thousands of Serbs were killed and hundreds of thousands fled Croatia.