Kyiv blocking implementation of Minsk accords' political provisions, including amnesty clause - Gryzlov
MINSK. June 7 (Interfax) - The main cause of the escalation in Donbas is official Ukraine blocking steps towards political settlement of the situation, Boris Gryzlov, Russia's representative in the Trilateral Contact Group (TCG) mediating the Ukrainian conflict, said.
"The amnesty spelt out in the Minsk Agreements has yet to be signed by Kyiv for almost three years," Gryzlov told journalists on Wednesday after a TCG meeting in Minsk.
For over half a year, despite agreements reached by the Normandy Four, Ukraine has been reluctant to work out an implementation algorithm for the Steinmeier formula determining the introduction of a special status for Donbas, Gryzlov said.
"We won't solve the Donbas conflict via military and forceful methods," the politician said.
The people of Donbas "needs guarantees against repressions, arrests, guarantees of security, language and religious rights, rights to self-administration, free cultural development, and guarantees of unhindered economic and human ties with Russia," Gryzlov said.