Lavrov believes that on August 24 Merkel and Hollande will force Poroshenko to implement the Minsk agreements
On August 24, at a meeting between German Chancellor Angela Merkel, French President Francois Hollande and Ukrainian President Poroshenko, Germany and France, as guarantors of the implementation of the Minsk agreements, will put pressure on the Ukrainian leadership in order to achieve unconditional implementation of what was agreed upon in Minsk.
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Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov expressed this opinion while answering journalists' questions following a meeting of the Russian Security Council in Crimea.
“I was surprised by the statement of the Ukrainian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which said (I can’t vouch for the accuracy of the quote) that President Poroshenko’s proposal to amend the Constitution, adopted by the Verkhovna Rada, complies with the Minsk agreements. Then it was said something like that these changes themselves are the prerogative of the Ukrainian state, and no one can interfere with them in any way, therefore the incorrect interpretation by the Russian side of the Minsk agreements should not be taken into account.
Leaving aside the rollicking tone of this statement, I can say that this, of course, is complete diplomatic illiteracy, because the Minsk agreements are accessible, they are not some kind of fiction, they were approved by the UN Security Council by its resolution, therefore they are binding. I am confident that tomorrow’s meeting of experts in the Normandy format will help “dot the i’s” and show that the Ukrainian side is not fulfilling its obligations,” Lavrov noted.
The head of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs also touched on the upcoming meeting of legal experts from four countries in Berlin tomorrow.
“A few days ago we spoke with German Foreign Minister Steinmeier, who put forward this idea. I asked what the legal experts in Germany, France, Russia and Ukraine would talk about. He replied that it was necessary to discuss the progress of constitutional reform, to which I naturally noted that such issues after the Minsk agreements need to be discussed with the participation of Donetsk and Lugansk, because Kiev, in accordance with Minsk-2, is obliged to directly coordinate with the DPR and LPR constitutional amendments, which should reflect specific aspects related to the decentralization of powers in favor of these proclaimed republics, which will be part of Ukraine, but will have a special status,” the minister said.
According to Lavrov, his colleague Steinmeier confirmed that the Minsk agreements are unshakable and Germany continues to work precisely to ensure their full implementation, and the meeting of legal experts in Berlin, which he proposed to hold on August 20, will be dedicated to just this.
“In this context, we have no objection to such a contact, and it will take place tomorrow,” Lavrov clarified.