Lavrov calls on France and Germany to take action in face of Kiev's 'glaring breach' of Minsk Agreement

© Reuters / Alexei Chernyshev

Moscow has called on Berlin and Paris to take action in regards to Kiev's non-compliance with the Minsk peace agreement, in what Russia's Foreign Minister has called a "glaring breach of the first steps of the Minsk package."

"I don't know how the political process will unfold now," Lavrov told a news conference on Wednesday."Yesterday I sent special notes to the foreign ministers of France and Germany, and drew their attention to the glaring breach of the first steps of the political part of the Minsk package by Kiev. I urged them to take a trilateral joint demarche in regards to our Ukrainian colleagues in order to encourage them to implement agreements which they signed, and what was supported by the leaders of Germany, France, Russia and Ukraine."

Kiev didn't even take an effort in an attempt to start dialogue with the self-proclaimed republics of Donetsk and Lugansk on the modalities of elections there, Lavrov said after negotiations with his Gabonese counterpart, Emmanuel Issoze-Ngondet.

At the OSCE Permanent Council session on Thursday Russia is set to raise the question of the violation of the Minsk agreements when adopting laws on Donbass, RIA Novosti reported.

"Immediately after the withdrawal of heavy weapons, a dialogue on the modalities of the election in the respective regions of Donetsk and Lugansk was supposed to begin," Lavrov said. "The modality of the elections, in line with the Minsk agreements, must be in accord with Donetsk and Lugansk. Nobody even tried to do it."

On Tuesday, the Ukrainian parliament, the Verkhovna Rada, failed to introduce a special order of government in Donbass until the elections are held there in accordance with Ukrainian laws.

The lawmakers also voted to recognize certain parts of the Donetsk and Lugansk Regions as temporarily occupied and approved President Poroshenko's appeal to the UN Security Council and the EU Council to deploy an international peacekeeping and security operation.

The introduction of peacekeepers in the conflict zone wasn't planned under either the Minsk protocol from September 5, 2014 or by the September 19, 2014 memorandum. Nor was it part of a set of measures from February 12 this year.

#Lavrov: The Verkhovna Rada's resolution is an attempt to reverse everything that was agreed upon in Minsk

— MFA Russia (@mfa_russia) 18 Март 2015

#Lavrov: The compromise was to grant a special status to the territories where the people have voted for their leaders

— MFA Russia (@mfa_russia) 18 Март 2015

"I regret to comment on the situation, because it seemed to me that on February 12, in Minsk, steps that had to be carried out were unambiguously mapped out," Lavrov said.

The self-proclaimed Donetsk (DPR) and Lugansk (LPR) People's Republics stated that by adopting these laws the Rada had demonstrated Kiev's inability to come to terms, and no compromises are possible with it.

"Denying Donbass a special status, Kiev has trampled on the fragile peace and brought the situation to a standstill," the leaders of the DPR and LPR said in a statement.

They complained that the introduction of a special status in certain areas of Donbass has been postponed indefinitely, after being amended by Poroshenko.

"Poroshenko and the Rada are not confused by the fact that they violate the law which they themselves have adopted," the statement said.

According to the head of the DPR, Aleksandr Zakharchenko, and LPR head Igor Plotnitsky, Kiev doesn't want peace but "is seeking to destroy Donbass by means of violence and economic blockade" instead.