MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 21st August, 2020) The United States should not escalate the conflict in the eastern Ukrainian region of Donbas by providing Kiev with armament, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said in an interview with Russia's Trud newspaper.
"To settle the conflict it is necessary not to add fuel to the fire, what the United States is doing, including by delivering armament to Kiev. The question is whether Washington really wants to reach peace in Ukraine, which is declared by its [US] representatives in international bodies," Lavrov said.
He also called on Ukraine to implement the 2015 Minsk Agreements by anchoring a special status of some parts of the Donbas region in the country's constitution.
Kiev launched a military operation against the self-proclaimed republic of Donetsk and Luhansk in 2014 after they refused to recognize the new Ukrainian government and proclaimed independence from the country.
A ceasefire deal between warring parties was signed in Minsk a year later following talks brokered by the leaders of the Normandy four states. Despite this agreement, sporadic fighting still continues in Donbas.
