MOSCOW. Feb 18 (Interfax) - Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Vershinin has expressed skepticism over the Ukrainian leadership's plans to implement the Minsk Agreements for settling the situation in Donbas.
"Regrettably, seven years on, we have more and more reasons to believe that the implementation of the Minsk Package of Measures is still not in the plans of our Ukrainian neighbors. They are now openly talking about it," Vershinin said at a Russian Security Council meeting.
Ukrainian politicians "are trying to make the West think that the Minsk Agreements are against Ukraine's interests," he said.
"Another widespread excuse of this kind is that Russia is allegedly not meeting some of its commitments under the Minsk Agreements. Meanwhile, it's obvious that this vision of the matter has no basis, as there is no reference to Russia in the context of the Minsk Agreements," he said.
"Seven years on, it's obvious that none of the provisions of the Package of Measures is not fully implemented by Ukraine, beginning with the first point, which is ceasefire. The root of the problem is Kyiv being systematically unwilling to engage in a direct dialogue with the authorized representatives of Donetsk and Luhansk in the contact group," the Russian high-ranking diplomat said, adding that this requirement is set forth in the Minsk Agreements themselves.
He also highlighted that "any attempts to shift the responsibility to Russia, to present it as a conflicting party are deficient," Vershinin said.
(Our editorial staff can be reached at eng.editors@interfax.ru