MOSCOW. Jan 19 (Interfax) - Moscow on Sunday called for an immediate end to fighting in eastern Ukraine.
"Russia is pressing for unflinching compliance with the Minsk agreements on the settlement of the crisis in Ukraine. This is the central task in our contacts with the leadership of Ukraine, the leaders of the proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic and Luhansk People's Republic, and officials in interested foreign countries, including in the 'Normandy format,'" Russia's Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
"In seeking agreements on practical ways of moving forward in implementing the Minsk agreements, representatives of the DPR and LPR arrived in Minsk to participate in a regular meeting of the Contact Group that was scheduled for January 16 of this year. However, no Ukrainian representatives appeared in the Belarusian capital, and the meeting never went ahead. Nevertheless, we are doing everything possible to have the Contact Group meet at the very start of this week. We urge its participants and all those with influence on the situation to ensure that the meeting is not canceled again," the ministry said.
"It is deeply disturbing that, in violation of the Minsk agreements, the Ukrainian side is continuing to build up its military presence in southeastern Ukraine. The intensive militarization, announcements about 'new waves' of mobilization among the population of Ukraine, and appeals from Kyiv to 'take revenge' for the situation 'on the ground' that has taken shape after the signature of the Minsk agreements in September 2014 are evidence of this," it said.
"On January 15 this year, Russian President Vladimir Putin sent Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko a letter about the need for unflinching compliance by the parties to the conflict with the 'silence' regime and with the agreement on the withdrawal of heavy artillery from the line of contact. Despite arguments over one of its sections, the Russian side called for urgently beginning to withdraw heavy armaments from the line of contact as marked on the basis of the coordinates on which the Ukrainian side insists. The Russian side would, furthermore, be ready to use its influence with the militias to persuade them to accept this option in the spirit of goodwill in order to avoid new civilian fatalities. Within the format of the Russian-Ukrainian Joint Center for Control and Coordination, specific proposals were handed over to the Ukrainian side with an hour-by-hour schedule for such withdrawal of heavy armaments. So far no response has arrived to Vladimir Putin's letter, while the Ukrainian military has rejected the proposals and resumed bombardments of Donetsk with a direct threat to civilians and monitors of the OSCE Mission [Special Monitoring Mission to Ukraine of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe]," the statement said.
"It is outrageous that Kyiv and its American patrons are making attempts to blame the tragedy in the town of Volnovakha on the militia without waiting for findings of investigations or court rulings. However, a conclusion by the OSCE Mission released on January 17 refutes these groundless allegations. We demand an urgent and impartial investigation into the tragedy with the participation of all interested parties," it said.
"It is obvious that official Kyiv, taking advantage of the recent truce to regroup its forces, is again trying to embark on a path of further escalation of the conflict with the aim of 'settling' it in a military way," the ministry said.
"Attempts of this kind, which go hand in hand with obvious provocations (such as the situation with the Malaysian Boeing or the shelling of the bus near Volnovakha), usually happen shortly before European Union events or other meetings of Western states at which the situation in Ukraine is discussed. The current offensive of the 'war party' is clearly linked to the planned meeting of the EU Foreign Affairs Council on January 19," the statement said.
"All that this kind of subversive action can do is to aggravate the extremely deep crisis of Ukraine," it said.
"It is essential to immediately resume practical work in the Contact Group format for the comprehensive implementation of the Minsk agreements. As the first move, hostilities must cease immediately and completely and the 'silence' regime must resume. The OSCE Mission to Ukraine should play a special role in this," the ministry said.
"We earnestly urge all members of the international community to demand that the Ukrainian authorities abandon their logic of confrontation, unconditionally renounce their course for the military suppression of southeastern Ukraine, and at last fulfill their commitment to begin a full-scale constitutional reform with the equal participation of all regions of the country," the statement said.