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These comments were made during a United Nations Security Council videoconference organized in Moscow to mark the sixth anniversary of the so-called second Minsk agreements, concluded in February 2015 to end the war in the Donbass region.
“Russia must immediately end its aggression in eastern Ukraine and end the occupation of Crimea,” said US diplomat Rodney Hunter.
“We call on Russia to withdraw all its forces from Ukraine, to end its support for its militants and other armed groups, and to fulfill all its obligations under the Minsk agreements,” he added.
The European member states of the Security Council, as well as Germany, issued a joint statement condemning the continuing instability in the areas controlled by pro-Russian separatists in the Donetsk and Lugansk regions of eastern Ukraine, which helped France and Moscow conclude agreements with Minsk.
“By using force against the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Ukraine, Russia is clearly violating the fundamental principles of international law,” the statement said. Once again, we call on the Russian Federation to stop inciting conflict immediately by providing financial and military assistance to the armed groups it supports, and we are deeply concerned about the presence of Russian troops and military equipment in areas outside Ukraine’s control. . Government.”
Russia’s ambassador to the UN, Vasily Nebenzia, rejected the West’s condemnation and accused Ukraine of failing to implement the Minsk accords, with its “defenders” behind France and Germany.
He also accused Kiev of “total indifference” towards the situation of the Donbass people.
“I can’t do my job”
German Ambassador Christoph Heusgen, who participated in the talks in Minsk as part of Chancellor Angela Merkel’s delegation, said the Russian diplomat did not mention Moscow’s failure to withdraw heavy weapons from the region, although this is stipulated in the agreement.
“To date, Russia’s heavy weapons have not been distracted from the line of contact in violation of the Minsk accords,” ch. Heusgen.
As the Ukrainian government does not have access to part of the border with Russia, those areas remain outside the control of Kiev and the observation mission of Security and European Cooperation (OSCE) “cannot do its job,” emphasized the German diplomat.
“As a result, Russia can send troops and weapons to Lugansk and Donetsk day after day,” he explained.
French Ambassador to the UN Nicolas de Riviere said Russia’s statements against France and Germany were “unfounded.”
UN Under Secretary-General for Politics and Peacebuilding Rosemary DiCarlo said the situation in the region remained “fragile” until a lasting political solution to the conflict in eastern Ukraine was found.
“The risk of deterioration is real if negotiations stall,” he said.
“We are deeply concerned about the increase in security incidents at various hotspots along the hotline in recent months. “These dangerous trends must change quickly,” DiCarlo said.
The Ukrainian government has been fighting Russian-backed separatists in Donetsk and Lugansk since 2014. The conflict began with Moscow’s annexation of the Crimean peninsula earlier that year following Maidan’s pro-European revolution in Kiev.
Since then, more than 13,000 people have died in the conflict. people and almost 1.5 million. he had to leave his house.
Ukraine and its allies in the West accuse Russia of sending troops and weapons to aid the separatists, but Moscow denies such accusations.
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