The European Union has called on Russia to fulfill its obligations in the Normandy format and to ensure the immediate opening of all entry-exit checkpoints existing in the Donbas and two additional checkpoints in Shchastya and Zolote. This happened during a meeting of the OSCE Permanent Council in Vienna on Thursday, March 11, - Ukrinform reports.
We call on Russia to fulfill its obligations made at the last Normandy summit by using its great influence on the supported armed formations to ensure the opening of the Shchastya and Zolote checkpoints without delay, as well as all the closed checkpoints", - the EU delegation stated.
The European Union also called on Russia to be constructive in negotiations in the Trilateral Contact Group, where the OSCE is the mediator, and Ukraine and Russia are the parties to the conflict: "We welcome the leadership efforts of Ambassador Grau in the work of the Trilateral Contact Group, consisting of Ukraine and Russia, with the OSCE as a mediator. We urge Russia to act constructively in these discussions. Political considerations should not overwhelm humanitarian issues".
Also, the EU once again called on Russia "to use its great influence on the armed formations it supports in order to fulfill the Minsk commitments in full".
"We reiterate our call for Russia to immediately stop fueling the conflict by providing financial and military support to the armed formations. We remain deeply concerned about the information on the presence of Russian military equipment and personnel in the areas controlled by Russian-backed armed formations. The duration of the European Union's economic sanctions against Russia is tied to full implementation of the Minsk agreements", - the statement notes.