German FM: Truce in eastern Ukraine becoming more fragile

The truce in eastern Ukraine is becoming moire fragile, all sides should now make efforts to observe the ceasefire, German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said in a statement distributed Tuesday.


 "The fact that the number of cases when the truce in eastern Ukraine is violated during Christmas festivities has increased is an unpleasant development of events by the end of the year," Steinmeier said. 

He said despite important progress reached over the year, "many other issues remain unsolved."

"The truce is becoming more fragile. There’s still no understanding regarding the law on local elections in Donbas parts" currently controlled by militiamen, Steinmeier said. 

He added that the humanitarian situation in Donbass "has greatly deteriorated over the past few months." "It’s clear that we should fully support implementation of the Minsk Package of Measures in the new year too. We keep being guided by the schedule, agreement about which was reached by the heads of state and government at a meeting in the Normandy format on October 2 in Paris," the minister underscored.

 "We should keep working on holding in early 2016 local elections and on complete implementation of the Minsk Package," Steinmeier said, noting that Kiev should "restore full control of the state border."...
More: http://tass.ru/en/world/847716
29/12/15
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