Ambassador of France to Ukraine: Minsk agreements to be clarified

The Minsk agreements have to be clarified and made more specific, as they were concluded in 2014-2015, while any diplomatic text leaves a room for an interpretation, French Ambassador to Ukraine Etienne de Poncins stated in his interview to RBC-Ukraine.

In response to whether a new protocol could be signed, he said that such a formal legal approach wasn’t necessary. In his opinion, understanding how to implement the Minsk agreements is what is needed.

“Especially when one speaks about elections, a border, the details, these details have to be explained and described precisely. Ukraine should gain control over the border, but there are questions about the sequence of steps,” the diplomat stated.

Etienne de Poncins also added: “The Minsk agreements are criticized, but they are the only available roadmap to peace. Apart from their implementation, there is no other way. I do not see another possibility at the moment, except the Minsk and Normandy formats”.

To recap, a meeting of political advisers of the Normandy Quartet took place in Berlin last week. The Kremlin announced that there was no Russian responsibility for the lack of progress during these talks. At the same time, Russia stressed that it delivered no ultimatums and it is Ukraine that had to fulfil its long-standing commitments to resolve the situation in Donbas.

The other day, President Volodymyr Zelensky noted that Russia had no right to demand that Ukraine would submit a bill on amendments on the Donbas special status to the Constitution soon.

Bohdan Marusyak