Kiev to Adopt Law on Special Donbas Status Under Minsk Deal

MOSCOW – Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and US State Secretary John Kerry during a phone conversation on Saturday stressed the importance of adherence to the ceasefire in Ukraine.

“The Heads of Russian and US Foreign Ministries stressed the importance of adherence to the ceasefire, which should be implemented at midnight on February 15, by the conflicting parties,” a statement published on official Facebook page of Russia’s Foreign Ministry read.

Lavrov also emphasized that the Minsk Agreements include Kiev’s obligation to remove financial and economic blockade from the Ukrainian southeast and to provide amnesty. Besides, Ukraine should carry out constitutional reform and adopt a law on the special status of Donbas, the Minister added.

leaders of Ukraine, France, Germany, and Russia held a 16-hour summit in Minsk on Wednesday and early Thursday. The talks resulted in a new political deal aimed at stopping the deadly conflict in eastern Ukraine.

The deal was signed by the Contact Group on Ukraine, including envoys from Moscow, Kiev, the self-proclaimed people’s republics of Donetsk and Luhansk and the OSCE.

Despite a similar ceasefire agreement signed by the parties in last September, clashes in eastern Ukraine intensified in the first weeks of 2015.

Sputnik

R.S