MOSCOW – There can be no replacement of the Minsk Agreements by any new documents, and all the four Normandy format leaders have acknowledged that the only way to resolve the crisis in Ukraine is to eliminate all differences in their interpretation and resume their step-by-step implementation, Russian presidential press secretary Dmitry Peskov has said.
“It is very important that the absence of any alternative to the very text of the Minsk Agreements was reaffirmed in Berlin. [Ukrainian President Petro] Poroshenko admitted this, because we had heard on numerous occasions that some new documents were needed, that is, indirect attempts were made to replace the Minsk Agreements,” Peskov said in an interview shown in a Saturday news program hosted by Sergei Brilev on the Rossiya 1 (VGTRK) television channel.
“There isn’t going to be any replacement, and everyone acknowledged that the text of the Minsk Agreements is the starting point,” he said.
“Everyone is interested in making sure this or that way that the Minsk Agreements are not just empty paper,” Peskov said.
“The Normandy format leaders reaffirmed their political will. They will continue to work on implementing the Minsk Agreements. They presume that there is no alternative to the Minsk Agreements, and this work will be continued within a month on the high level of foreign ministers and (presidential) aides,” he said.
The Kremlin spokesman confirmed that Poroshenko had brought up the issue of Kyiv’s regaining control over the Ukrainian-Russian border at the meeting in Berlin.
“Certainly, because this is one of the clauses of the Minsk Agreements. But the last one. President Putin has pointed out each time that there is a clearly stipulated sequence of steps that need to be taken. Nobody has disputed this,” he said.
Peskov admitted that the deadlines set in the Minsk Agreements have been missed.
“However you might put it, but we have missed them. There is no other way but to smooth out these areas of misunderstanding, the areas of difference regarding the interpretation of what is written on paper. After all, if this path needs to be traveled, this should be done, after which their step-by-step implementation should be started,” he said.
