The region was thrust into a civil war in the spring of 2014, in the aftermath of a US and EU-backed coup in Kiev.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has expressed dismay at Kiev’s refusal to hold direct talks with the leaders of the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics to put an end to the conflict in the Donbass, and expressed alarm over reports of a dramatic increase shelling of the Donbass using heavy weaponry prohibited by the Minsk Agreements. Kiev, the foreign minister alleged, is responsible for sabotaging the ceasefire.
“We have emphasized that there is no alternative to the implementation of the Minsk Agreements in their entirety. And of course, we emphasized our serious concern over the statements by Kiev that they would not conduct direct dialogue with Donetsk and Lugansk. This is a direct challenge and a direct refusal to comply with the Minsk Agreements,” Lavrov said, speaking to reporters after his meeting with Greek Foreign Minister Nikos Dendias on Friday.
“As for the situation on the line of contact in the Donbass, we are very alarmed by the recent reports -from yesterday or the day before, of a sharp increase in shelling with the use of weapons prohibited by the Minsk Agreements,” the Russian top diplomat said.
Separately, in an interview with RT on Friday, Lavrov said that Moscow rechecking information suggesting that mercenaries are being recruited for deployment in the Donbass from the self-proclaimed Republic of Kosovo, as well as Albania and Bosnia.
“German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and all other NATO leaders say that the alliance is a defensive one. Russian President Vladimir Putin, at his press conference following the talks with Scholz, reminded him of the bombing of Yugoslavia in 1999. Scholz said that NATO intervened to prevent a genocide of Kosovar Albanians, that everything was done successfully and that now this region is flourishing,” Lavrov said.
But the region is “far from flourishing,” according to Lavrov. “Kosovo and some other parts of the Western Balkans are becoming a breeding ground for crime. There are terrorists, drug dealers. It is a recruiting ground for mercenaries taking part in conflicts which are being gradually fomented, including by the United States. There is information that mercenaries are being recruited in Kosovo, Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina and being sent to the Donbass, among other places, in order to knock Russia off balance. We are rechecking this information now,” the foreign minister said.
Source: Sputnik
