Putin Is Serious about Implementing Minsk Accords, Resolving Ukraine Conflict in Paris

Dec. 7, 2019 (EIRNS)—Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told TASS on Dec. 6 that on the sidelines of the Dec. 9 Paris “Normandy Four” talks, President Vladimir Putin plans

“to hold important bilateral meetings with President Macron, German Chancellor Merkel and Ukrainian President Zelensky. [Putin’s] attitude is serious, the only expectation is to facilitate efforts to resolve the domestic conflict in southeastern Ukraine, ensure a common understanding that there is no alternative to implementing the Minsk Agreements and prevent attempts to dilute them.”

Confirming that he will meet the Russian President, Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky told Ukrainian TV in an interview: “Yes, all the Presidents will have bilateral meetings,” and he that he “wants to come back with meaningful results” and bring to Ukraine “the comprehension and understanding that all [the negotiators] seek to eventually put an end to this tragic war.”

Commenting on the Dec. 9 summit Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, who was at the Mediterranean Dialogues conference in Rome, on Dec. 6, said: “We will expect additional agreements, which will make it possible to end that conflict, which will ensure people’s safety in Donbas, ensure their rights, which are enshrined in the Minsk agreements, the so-called special status law, and which will help to put an endto that conflict.”