Contents tagged with Minsk agreements

  • Railroads in the Donbas will be cleared for coal transportation

    In Minsk, it was agreed that railroads will be cleared for coal transportation to Ukrainian power stations

    At yesterday's meeting in Minsk, members of a subgroup of the Trilateral Contact Group on economic issues agreed to start the process of clearing the rail networks through which coal is transported from the occupied territories to Ukrainian power stations, as Darya Olifer, the press secretary for Leonid Kuchma, wrote on her Facebook page. This is about clearance and reconstruction of …

  • John Kerry: The US will allocate $23 million for victims of the war in the Donbas

    The United States intends to provide Ukraine with $23 million worth of humanitarian aid for the victims of hostilities in the Donbas. US Secretary of State John Kerry said this on Thursday, July 7, at the joint briefing with the President of Ukraine, Petro Poroshenko, regarding the results of the bilateral meeting.

    In addition, Kerry noted the progress in the development of the law on elections in the Donbas. “Ukraine has put great efforts in the implementation of the Minsk Agreements and …

  • Merkel to meet with Putin before NATO Summit

    As reported on the 19th of June by several German newspapers and sources in the German Government, Chancellor Angela Merkel intends to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin to discuss a resumption of the peace process in eastern Ukraine.

    According to the media, "ideally", the new meeting will be held before the NATO summit on July 8-9th.

    The media reports specified that a "preparatory" meeting in the Normandy format was held this week where such issues as the restoration of the "frozen" …

  • WIthdrawal of heavy weapons agreed on in several areas in the Donbas

    Advisers to the heads of the sates of the Normandy quartet agreed on three pilot sites for troops and weaponry withdrawal in eastern Ukraine.

    The Deputy Head of Administration of the President of Ukraine, Kostiantyn Yeliseyev, met with the advisers to the heads of the Normandy Four states and an OSCE Representative in Minsk.

    "The meetings were held with the advisers to the heads of the Normandy Four states. Participating in the meeting with me were the advisers to the German Chancellor, the …

  • Estonian PM: Putin holds the key to the implementation of the Minsk Agreements

    Estonian Prime Minister Taavi Rõivas stated in an interview with Die Welt that the key to the implementation of the Minsk Agreements is in Putin’s hands. "The restoration of Ukraine’s territorial integrity is an integral part of the Minsk agreements. But obviously, this is not happening,” he noted.

    Rõivas emphasized that "It is Putin who is holding the key for this [implementation of the Minsk Agreements]. In my view, Russia should take two steps back if they want to continue to sit at the …

  • Prominent Ukrainian MP: We need an alternative to the Minsk Agreements

    Semen Semenchenko, Deputy of the Verkhovna Rada and member of the Samopomich (Self-Reliance) Party, has called for an alternative to the Minsk Agreements as a resolution to the war in eastern Ukraine. Semenchenko, who is also the founder of the volunteer territorial defense battalion “Donbas”, insists that the Minsk Agreements are in any case invalid because, according to legislative changes in Ukraine, the Verkhovna Rada must approve all international treaties, which it has not done for the …

  • Stratfor: Washington and Moscow may be making progress in talks over Ukraine

    The United States is likely making slow headway in the negotiation process with Russia on the crisis in Ukraine but this week demonstrated significant progress. Voice of America reports that this statement was released by the American analytical center Stratfor in a new analysis named "Anticipation of progress in negotiations on Ukraine."

    On May 18th, Assistant Secretary of State Victoria Nuland once again visited Moscow where she met with Russian Presidential Assistant Vladislav Surkov. This …

  • Kuchma: There cannot be elections in the Donbas until the Minsk Agreements are implemented

    The second President of Ukraine and the representative of Ukraine in Trilateral Contact Group, Leonid Kuchma, reiterated that elections cannot be held in the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics until the Minsk Agreements are implemented.

    During an interview with journalists in Kiev, Kuchma highlighted the need to come to a resolution on the issue of security, Interfax-Ukraine reported.

    “I stated at the last meeting of the Trilateral Contact Group that the talks about some …

  • New negotiations of the 'Normandy Format' to be held in Berlin

    German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier has requested that representatives of the Normandy Four hold a meeting focusing on the settlement of the conflict in Ukraine.

    He has invited his colleagues from Russia, Ukraine and France to discuss a way to resolve the crisis in the Donbas. Negotiations in the Normandy Format will be held on the 11th of May in Berlin.

    “I consider it necessary to make a new attempt to overcome the relationship barrier between Kiev and Moscow. Too much time has …

  • Delegates in Minsk acknowledge that breakthroughs can only be made by the states' Presidents

    Despite the seeming ineffectiveness of the Minsk negotiation format, as is obvious to all the participants, no one feels the need to put an end to it. Several participants of the Minsk process have admitted that the negotiations held in the capital of Belarus are a screen and believe that any possible breakthroughs can only be made by the Presidents of the involved States, as noted in an article written by the Deputy Editor-in-Chief of ZN.UA, Sergey Rakhmanin.

    “Recently, the Ukrainian position …