18:26 19.12.2019

Minsk Agreements' modernization possible - Zelensky's aide

2 min read
Minsk Agreements' modernization possible - Zelensky's aide

The Minsk Agreements on settling the situation in Donbas could be modernized to make sure that they work, Ukrainian presidential aide Andriy Yermak said.

"I believe any legal document must work, especially when we talk about such a serious international document. Five years have passed since the Minsk Agreements were signed. All of us are saying that this is the only platform that exists, and too much effort was employed on it, including all of our losses, above all human losses, to easily scrap all this [...] Therefore, I believe the Minsk Agreements may be updated and modernized. No change and of course not withdrawal from them, but precisely their modernization," Yermak said in an interview with Interfax-Ukraine.

"For instance, if we talk about an unconditional ceasefire today, let's add how we can monitor and ensure this and who is responsible for this," he said.

Yermak said he personally would not have signed some provisions of the Minsk Agreements, and each of their lines can be criticized today.

The procedure of returning control over the border to Ukraine is the only clause of the Minsk Agreements "that we definitely wish to amend and adjust today," Yermak said.

"We must make sure now that, by the moment of elections, the border must be under Ukraine's control. At the present time, the Russian side and we have different positions on this. As this is a matter of principle for us, we are going to reasonably defend our position," he said.

Elections in Donbas must be held based on Ukrainian law, which does not envision elections in the presence of foreign military units in areas where elections are to be held, Yermak said.

Nor does Ukrainian law envision the organization of elections in areas where illegal armed units are present or when the border is not under the Ukrainian government's absolute control, he said.

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