Citizens carry flags of the Donetsk People’s Republic
Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov believes it’s unreal to observe the full ceasefire in the Donbass region.
“Our Ukrainian colleagues have again said that the Minsk agreements will start being implemented in full only if there is full and unconditional ceasefire without a single violation for at least three months,” TASS news agency reported Lavrov said at the Valdai club session of the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum on June 16. “This is just unreal. There will be always someone who opens fire twice and says that the regime has been violated,” Russian FM said.
Earlier the Ukrainian authorities said that elections in Donbass must take no earlier than 90 days after the adoption of a special law. Kiev insists that the polls can be held only on the condition of a full ceasefire.
Holding elections in Donbass is one of the key points of political settlement of the crisis in Ukraine. However, the progress in this direction is very questionable.
For example, the representantive of the Donetsk People’s Republic, Denis Pushilin, believes nobody should expect elections this year.
“Unfortunately, there is no progress in the work of the political subgroup. There is our position and there is the Ukrainian position – they are completely opposite, no compromise has been reached. That’s why there is no talk about elections this year.”