Russia calls on sides to fully disengage their forces near Stanytsia Luhanska in Donbas - envoy Gryzlov
MOSCOW. June 28 (Interfax) - Moscow is urging the sides in the Donbas conflict to carry out the disengagement of their forces near Stanytsia Luhanska in full.
"The Russian Federation is calling on Ukraine and the LPR [self-proclaimed Luhansk People's Republic] to fully accomplish all of the necessary steps to disengage their forces and hardware in Stanytsia Luhanska in accordance with their framework decision," Russia's envoy to the Trilateral Contact Group for Ukraine Boris Gryzlov told reporters on Friday.
Russia is doing everything it can to make sure that the disengagement agreement is fulfilled, he said.
"Russia is supporting and will continue to support the OSCE's mediation efforts to make sure that the conflicting sides' forces are disengaged not only in Stanytsia Luhanska, but also in Petrovske and Zolote and eventually along the entire contact line," Gryzlov said.
The sides in the Donbas conflict agreed to disengage their forces and hardware at three pilot sectors of the contact line, near Petrovske, Zolote, and Stanytsia Luhanska, two years ago. Attempts to disengage forces at the last pilot section near Stanytsia Luhanska have thus far been unsuccessful.
The LPR said on Thursday that it was withdrawing its forces from the area.