MOSCOW, May 21 (RIA Novosti) – Kiev should not limit itself to the adoption of the memorandum on peace and consent passed earlier by Ukraine’s parliament, concrete actions are needed, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Grigory Karasin said Wednesday.
“A general request can be reduced to the following suggestion that the adoption of the memorandum on peace and consent passed earlier by Ukraine’s parliament should not be a final stop for the Ukrainian authorities,” Karasin said.
“Everyone is waiting for decisive actions aimed at putting an end to military operations and seeking ways for national reconciliation,” he said.
The diplomat stressed that the approved memorandum marked the first distinct but late step in the implementation of the April 17 Geneva Accord and the roadmap proposed by the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe.
On Tuesday, Ukraine’s parliament, the Verkhovna Rada, ratified the text to a “memorandum of peace and consent” after two months of armed clashes in the country’s eastern Donets region.
The document reiterates Ukraine’s non-aligned status and stipulates that the country may join any political or economic union only if the majority of the population votes in favor in a nationwide referendum.
It renounces the use of force by all sides and condemns violence, reinstates the special status of the Russian language and envisages constitutional reforms to decentralize power in the country. The memorandum also calls for the withdrawal of the country’s military to their permanent bases and banning criminal charges against protest activists.
