External players should press parties to Ukraine conflict to make them comply with Minsk agreements - Lavrov
KIRKENES, Norway. Oct 25 (Interfax) - External players should exert pressure on the parties to the conflict in Ukraine to make them comply with the Minsk agreements, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said.
"We presume that all external players, including Russia and the Western countries, should affect the Ukrainian parties so that the [Minsk] agreements are fully implemented," Lavrov said at a press conference in Kirkenes on Saturday.
"We favor the Minsk agreements' consistent implementation. These are very important agreements, because it is the first time that the Kyiv authorities and the southeast militias directly reached an agreement on concrete steps toward the de-escalation of the situation with Russia's and the OSCE's assistance," he said.
Lavrov added that Russia's position on the Ukraine crisis had been set out by President Vladimir Putin at the Valdai International Discussion Club forum in Sochi on Friday.
