Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has stated that negotiations on a settlement in Ukraine in the so-called Normandy format, namely, through assistance of the leaders of states, will resume "in the near future". Lavrov said this in an interview with CTV Belarussian television channel, - Radio Liberty reports.
As noted in the report, Lavrov did not specify when exactly these contacts can resume. At the same time, Lavrov said that the Minsk action plan - one of the three Minsk agreements, adopted in February 2015, is a "document with no alternative to resolve this crisis".
It is noted that Lavrov did not mention two previous Minsk agreements of September 2014, which also remain in force.
Moscow avoids mentioning them, not least because the Set Action plan, if taken separately, provides for Ukraine's return to control of its border in the currently occupied part of Donbass only as the latest step of the settlement. Now an uncontrolled transfer of all new weapons, ammunition and manpower for the hybrid Russian forces in the region is being carried out to the occupied territories through this section of the border. Kyiv reminds that, according to the September agreements, security zone on both sides of the border should have been established under its control and with the OSCE verification at that time - what would make it impossible for the movement to be out of control, - the report said.