Zakharova: Russia is not subject to the Minsk Agreements, so it is not obligated to release Savchenko
The Russian Foreign Ministry claims that Russia is not a party to the Minsk Agreements, and therefore it does not understand the claims concerning the case of the Ukrainian Nadiya Savchenko, as stated by the spokesperson of the Russian Ministry, Maria Zakharova.
"Russia is not a party to the Minsk Agreements. These agreements only concern two sides that are part of the conflict," she said.
"We have the responsibility to influence the parties of the conflict exactly the same way as France or Germany should influence Kiev. That's all, we owe nothing more," Maria Zakharova added.
The set of measures aimed at the implementation of the Minsk Agreements was agreed upon at the summit in Minsk on the 11th and 12th of February, 2015. It was signed by the Russian Ambassador, Mikhail Zurabov, OSCE Ambassador Heidi Tagliavini, Ukraine’s second president and the representative of Ukraine in the Trilateral Contact group, Leonid Kuchma, as well as by the representatives of the so-called DPR and LPR, Alexander Zakharchenko (without specifying his post) and Igor Plotnitsky (without specifying his post).
The question of the release of Nadiya Savchenko was raised this week during the negotiations of the Contact group in Minsk. One of the paragraphs of the Minsk Agreements calls for the release of hostages and illegally detained persons. Ukraine insists that Nadiya Savchenko should be freed as part of these agreements.