Europaudvalget 2014-15 (2. samling)
EUU Alm.del Bilag 69
Offentligt
Appeal
of the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the Verkhovna Rada (Parliament) of Ukraine,
as well as heads the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine’s delegations to parliamentary
assemblies of international organizations, to foreign parliaments’ committees
on foreign affairs and heads of national parliaments’ delegations to parliamentary
assemblies of international organizations regarding the need
to ensure implementation of the Minsk agreements by the Russian Federation
On February 12, 2015 in Minsk, members of the Trilateral Contact Group including
representatives of Ukraine, the Russian Federation and Special Representative of the OSCE
Chairperson-in-Office signed a Package of Measures for the Implementation of the Minsk
Agreements. Approved was also a Declaration of President of Ukraine, President of the
French Republic, Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany, and President of the
Russian Federation in support of the Package of Measures for the Implementation of the
Minsk Agreements.
The Committee on Foreign Affairs of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine stands for steadfast
realization of the Minsk agreements and their proper fulfillment, before all, as regards
implementation of full ceasefire, withdrawal of heavy weapons and releasing of hostages.
This position is supported by the Verkhovna Rada’s decision to implement the
Constitutional reform, as well as acts of legislation passed to ensure genuine
decentralization in Ukraine, and the preparatory work for holding local elections, including
in certain areas of the Donetsk and Luhansk Oblasts according to Ukraine’s legislation and
OSCE standards. We believe that holding of the elections in conformity with these
universally recognized requirements and their positive assessment by OSCE Office for
Democratic Institutions and Human Rights is a fundamental idea behind the Minsk
agreements and an indispensable part of stabilization in Donbas.
We remindthat it was the sham election, which was held in Donbas on November 2, 2014
and has not been recognized by a singlestate, that, in fact, broke the Minsk agreements of
September 5 and 19, 2014 and threatened the development of peace process. Instead,
changes introduced by the Verkhovna Rada to the Law of Ukraine ‘On the Special Self-
Government Order in Certain Areas of the Donetsk and Luhansk Oblasts’ have blocked any
attempts of Russia-backed headmen to legitimize the illegal institutions established in
Donbas after November 2, 2014.
The Committee takes note of the active work of the Trilateral Contact Group and its
subgroups that have embarked onsubstantive discussion of practical aspects of
implementation of the Minsk agreements.
We proceed from the understanding that the primary task of the groups is to reach,the
soonest, an agreement on additional effective measures capable of ensuring a lasting and
comprehensive ceasefire, final withdrawal of heavy weapons, equal to and above the 100-
mm limit, subsequent withdrawal of tanks and canons below 100-mm limit and mortars
below 120-mm limit with OSCE monitoring and verification, and promote practical
implementation thereof; tosolve social and economic and humanitarian problems in the