The leaders of the Normandy Four countries will consider possible ways to accelerate the implementation of the Minsk agreements in the near future.
This is stated in a joint statement released on March 29 by the press service of the President of Ukraine.
“The leaders of the Normandy Four countries reaffirm their commitment to the implementation of the Minsk agreements in all its dimensions (security, political, humanitarian and socio-economic),” the statement said.
It is noted that the parties “will consider possible ways to accelerate the implementation of the agreements in the coming months.”
The parties also welcomed the agreement to resume the ceasefire on March 30, 2018 on the occasion of the Easter holidays.
Once again the importance of its careful compliance and ensuring effective monitoring and verification by the OSCE SMM is emphasized.
In addition, the Normandy Four called for greater efforts to free the remaining hostages in accordance with the “all for all” formula, following the successful release of about 300 people on December 27, 2017.
As you know, the negotiating four in the Normandy format include Ukraine, France, Germany and the Russian Federation.
As reported, the Tripartite Contact Group for resolving the situation in Donbass agreed on another ceasefire in the ATO zone for the Easter holidays starting March 30, 2018 00:01. Kyiv time.
At the same time, the previous “silence regimes” that were declared in Donbass, in particular the “comprehensive” truce of March 5, lasted literally for several days. ATO forces noted that militants violate agreements and use prohibited weapons.
The last exchange with the Russian Federation took place on March 2, 2018: at the administrative border with Russian-occupied Crimea, two employees of the Ukrainian State Border Service, Bohdan Martson and Igor Dzyubak, were exchanged for two Russian border guards detained in Ukraine in July 2017.
The release of 5 Ukrainians from ORDLO failed.
The representative of Ukraine in the Trilateral Contact Group on Donbass, Irina Gerashchenko, stated that in Ukraine there are more than 20 Russians caught in the Donbass, whom she is ready to exchange for political prisoners illegally detained in the Russian Federation.
Gerashchenko noted that for such an exchange Ukraine is ready “for all healthy compromises,” but at the same time noted the lack of progress, despite all efforts of Kyiv to speed up the next wave of liberation.
President Petro Poroshenko, during a press conference on February 28 on plans for 2018, noted that the godfather of Russian President Vladimir Putin, Viktor Medvedchuk, turned out to be the most effective alternative in negotiations with Russia on prisoners.
