Updated 11:24 p.m. Moscow time.
PARIS, October 14 (RIA Novosti) - In order to help resolve the Ukrainian crisis, the West must pressure those under its influence to adhere fully and sincerely to the Minsk agreements, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Tuesday following the talks with US Secretary of State John Kerry.
In order to help resolve the Ukrainian crisis, the West must pressure those under its influence to adhere fully and sincerely to the Minsk agreements, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said.
"The task for Kerry and all of our friends and colleagues from other countries is not to try to invent something new, but to pressure those under their influence to adhere fully and sincerely to [the Minsk] agreements," Lavrov said.
"Kerry and I do not represent warring sides. The settlement of the Ukrainian crisis is possible only via direct negotiations and agreements between the conflicting parties. The Minsk meeting presupposes exactly that," he added.
"These [Minsk] agreements specify all the necessary steps to resolve the crisis, including ceasefire and political dialogue," the minister said.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has also underscored the importance of avoiding artificial formats of the Ukrainian crisis reconciliation process and adhering to the agreements, reached by the Contact Group on Ukraine in Minsk.
"It's important not to dilute the existing process, not to get distracted by some artificial formats, but to seek full implementation of the agreements between Kiev, Luhansk and Donetsk," Lavrov said.
He also stressed that the Kiev should start a comprehensive political dialogue, involving all Ukrainian regions, as it had promised back in April.
On September 5, the Kiev and independence supporters signed a ceasefire agreement during the meeting of the Contact Group on Ukraine in Minsk, comprising representatives from Ukraine, the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Luhansk People's Republics, Russia and the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe.
On September 19, another meeting of the group resulted in a memorandum, specifying the ceasefire. The document stipulated the creation of an 18-mile buffer zone, withdrawal of all heavy weapons from residential areas and the deployment of an OSCE monitoring mission in southeastern Ukraine.
