MOSCOW (Sputnik) — 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 a coup. In February 2015, the two sides reached a peace agreement after talks brokered by the leaders of Russia, France, Germany and Ukraine — the so-called Normandy Format — in the Belarusian capital of Minsk. Kiev has been reluctant to implement a number of Minsk deal provisions.
"Instead of bringing their Kiev clients, who over and over again hamper the peaceful settlement of the Donbass conflict, into line, Washington makes regular baseless claims against us. We remind that it was the US-backed coup in Ukraine that led to the referendum in Crimea and Sevastopol. This decision cannot be reversed, regardless how hard someone is trying to convince oneself otherwise," the ministry said.
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