German political expert, Prof. Dr. Henning Schroeder, told the German newspaper “Tagesschau” that there are a number of stumbling blocks in the Minsk agreement, especially for the Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko.
According to Schroeder, the main challengers are the withdrawal of heavy weapons by Kiev from the demarcation line and acknowledgement of de-facto sovereignty of Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics, the steps Poroshenko has to push forward in Kiev. This would be quite a difficult task for the Ukrainian President that will depend much on his ability to enforce the policy, Schroeder says.
The agreement is much more specific than the first Minsk Protocol. It defines time frames and responsible persons, Schroeder says. However, there are a number of stumbling blocks and its implementation still remains questionable.
If the agreement is implemented during the next few days, it will mark the beginning of a political process that would be the first important step towards the settlement of the conflict, the political expert claims.
