MOSCOW (Sputnik) — US Assistant Secretary for European and Eurasian Affairs Victoria Nuland's visit to Russia is taking place in the frame of a working mechanism on exchange of information on the situation in Ukraine, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Wednesday.
Nuland: "Time to step on the gas" for implementing Minsk Agreements. pic.twitter.com/cVtKjHH3Y7
— Will Stevens (@WBStevens) 18 May 2016
"It is Ukraine, Donbas, the Minsk agreements. You know that the United States does not take part in the Normandy process…. It has been decided to share the so-called first-hand information, to establish a sort of a working exchange mechanism. Such contacts take place in frames of this mechanism," Peskov said following the talks between Nuland and Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov.
Прибыли в МИД для встречи.
— Will Stevens (@WBStevens) 18 May 2016
Just arrived at the MFA for our meeting to discuss Ukraine, bilateral issues, etc. pic.twitter.com/2zB3dY7GYH
Kiev launched a special military operation in Ukraine’s southeast in April 2014, after local residents refused to recognize the new Ukrainian authorities, which came to power as a result of a coup.
In February 2015, a peace agreement was signed between Ukraine’s conflicting sides in the Belarusian capital, Minsk, after marathon talks of the Normandy Four countries, comprising Russia, Germany, Ukraine and France. The deal stipulates a full ceasefire, weapons withdrawal from the line of contact in eastern Ukraine, an all-for-all prisoner exchange and constitutional reforms, which would give a special status to the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Luhansk people’s republics.
