French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault has said that sanctions against Russia will continue until the Minsk agreements are fully implemented and called on Moscow to use its influence on separatists to settle the conflict in eastern Ukraine.
“I again call on Russia to use its influence on the separatists in order to find a way out of the situation and for us to find a political solution to the conflict [in Donbas],” Ayrault said at a joint press conference with Ukrainian Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin in Paris on March 9.
The French foreign minister stressed that Paris will continue to support Ukraine in order to restore its sovereignty and territorial integrity, as well as peace on its territory.
“France does not recognize and will never recognize the illegal annexation of Crimea, France will continue to work with Germany in the ‘Normandy format’ to restore peace and heal the painful wounds of the war,” the minister said.
He also noted that much more remains to be done for the disengagement of forces and weapons in Donbas.
“We need to move forward and not lose sight of our goal – the full implementation of the Minsk agreements by all parties,” the minister said.
Ayrault informed that the sanctions against Russia will continue until the Minsk agreements are fully implemented.
“We are united in the opinion that the sanctions will be prolonged until the Minsk agreements are implemented, but the sanctions are not an end in themselves, it is a means that helps in the implementation of the Minsk agreements,” he said.
The minister also said that consultations of the parties of the Normandy format will continue in Paris in the coming days.
“Even if we move forward at a slow pace, and we are often accused of this, nevertheless we are moving forward and we will not back down. We cannot accept the status quo, although some are willing to accept the situation and say, let everything be as it is. It’s not fair,” Ayrault said.
