Moscow Reiterates Minsk Deal the Only Key to Put an End to the War in Donbass

The Kremlin spokesman reiterated that the Minsk deals are the only solution to the Donbass conflict.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — The Minsk agreements are the only signed road map for the settlement of the situation in Ukraine, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Friday.

"The Minsk agreements remain the only signed text, which is a road map within the framework of intra-Ukrainian settlement, and there are no changes here," Peskov told reporters.

The Donbass conflict erupted in April 2014 as a local counter-reaction to the West-sponsored Maidan coup in Kiev that had toppled President Viktor Yanukovych in February. Residents of the Donetsk and Lugansk regions held independence referendums and proclaimed the People's Republics of Donetsk and Lugansk. Kiev has since been conducting a military operation, encountering stiff local resistance.

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.