Russian Foreign Ministry: Kiev Refused to Disengage Forces along Entire Line

According to Sergey Lavrov, in Paris the Ukrainian side roundly refused to fix in the final communiqué the goal of disengaging forces along the entire contact line.  At the Normandy summit, the Ukrainian authorities refused to fix in the final communique the task to disengage forces along the entire contact line in Donbass. This statement was made by Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov on one of Russia’s TV channels, TASS reports. “In Paris there was a phrase that the Normandy leaders address the Contact Group to coordinate the disengagement of troops and hardware along the entire contact line. This phrase was integrated into this paper a month ago,” Lavrov mentioned. However, the Minister continued, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky said he was unable to support this because this is a very remote goal. “The disengagement that had already occurred in three locations – Stanitsa Luganskaya, Petrovskoye and Zolotoye – had taken him more than five months to accomplish. So, if extrapolated, the disengagement at this speed will take seven or even ten years. Therefore, he could agree only to the Normandy format calling on the Contact Group to coordinate disengagement in another three locations,” Lavrov added. “Vladimir Putin replied, “Let’s write this down, but in parallel to the call to disengage in three locations, let’s say that we are basically in favour of disengaging the forces and hardware along the entire line of contact. This was roundly rejected. It is a serious indication that President Zelensky’s hands are obviously tied even on this key issue of his election campaign when he was saying that his priority was to end the war and prevent further deaths,” the Head of Russia’s Foreign Ministry said. Earlier it was reported that a new disengagement of forces was agreed upon in Minsk. The Trilateral Contact Group discussed the mechanism for verification and monitoring of the disengagement process in Donbass.