'Minsk agreements irreplaceable in settlement of Ukrainian conflict'

There is no alternative to the implementation of the Minsk agreements signed in 2015 when it comes to a peaceful settlement of the Ukrainian conflict, the Kremlin has said.

"Only the Minsk agreements...It is the only document we have that has been agreed upon (by parties involved in the conflict)," Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Sunday in an interview on Russia's Rossiya 1 television channel, Xinhua reported.

Violence has been plaguing the Ukrainian region of Donbas since Kiev launched a military operation in the country's southeast in April 2014 after local residents refused to recognize the new pro-West Ukrainian authorities.

The Minsk peace agreement reached in September 2014 and its renewal Minsk II agreement reached in February 2015, envisage a ceasefire, a withdrawal of heavy weaponry from the contact line, a prisoner exchange and local elections in Donbas, among other measures.

Peskov underlined that no party involved or guarantor nation had ever denied the feasibility of the Minsk II ceasefire pact and that the withdrawal from the deal would lead to "an utter collapse."

"No one can be sure if any new document can be agreed on. And, naturally, bearing this in mind, the fact that there is no alternative to the implementation of the Minsk agreements is not a subject for discussion," Peskov said.

The 13-point Minsk II agreement, brokered by Ukraine, Russia, Germany and France, outlined the steps needed to end the conflict and yet has been consistently violated.

--IANS

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