KYIV. Jan 18 (Interfax) - Russia has regularly violated the Minsk Agreements on settling the armed conflict in Donbas, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin said on Friday.
"Just imagine, the 18th attempt at a ceasefire over all these years has been thwarted. [...] As of last night, 111 attacks had been launched, two soldiers of ours killed, and nearly 30 more injured during the latest Christmas and New Year ceasefire. Can we call this a ceasefire at all? Here is the answer to your question as to why the Minsk platform [of Donbas settlement talks] is not being promoted," Klimkin said at a press conference in Kyiv.
Russia "totally thwarts" prisoner swaps, he said.
A new negotiating format would not save the day, Klimkin said. "The format does not matter. They keep proposing reconfiguring the format or adding Budapest, Geneva, or something else. Why not suggest Rio de Janeiro? But this is not what Russia needs. Russia needs to keep using Donbas," Klimkin said.