MOSCOW. May 2 (Interfax) - Russian President Vladimir Putin and German Chancellor Angela Merkel recognize that there is no alternative to the Minsk agreements and the Normandy process as the only format to continue looking for ways to resolve Ukraine's domestic problem, the Russian president's press secretary Dmitry Peskov said on Tuesday.
"Both Putin and Merkel concurred that there is no alternative to the Minsk agreement, and this is where they agree," Peskov said on Rossiya One (VGTRK) television channel.
Furthermore, the Russian and German leaders agreed that they also need a new impetus for implementation of the Minsk agreements, he said. "Because right now the situation is unsatisfactory both to Moscow and to Berlin," Peskov said.
The president set out in detail Russia's understanding of what "causes the protracted implementation of the Minsk agreements," Peskov said. "The causes lie precisely in Kyiv's reluctance or inability to implement the part that Kyiv is to implement under the terms of the agreements," Peskov said.
"One cannot say that the leaders recognized that the agreements are working," Peskov said. "Here, one probably cannot exaggerate, one has to admit that unfortunately. But the leaders clearly agreed that there is no alternative to these Minsk agreements and Normandy process against all odds, they also consider it the only possible format for continuing to search for ways to settle this international Ukrainian problem," Peskov said.