MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 01st September, 2018) The assassination of the leader of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic (DPR), Alexander Zakharchenko, is a provocation aimed at hindering implementation of the Minsk agreements on settlement of the conflict in the eastern Ukrainian region of Donbas, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Saturday.
On Friday, Zakharchenko was killed in a bomb blast in the cafe Separ in downtown Donetsk . DPR Finance Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Timofeev, who accompanied Zakharchenko, is in a moderately severe condition in a hospital. According to the DPR Emergencies Ministry, two people were killed and 11 more were injured by the blast. Six of those wounded were hospitalized.
"This is an open provocation aimed at hindering implementation of the Minsk agreements. The accords, however, have not been implemented by the Kiev authorities before," Lavrov told reporters.
The Russian foreign minister pointed out that under the current circumstances it was impossible to speak about holding the next round of the Normandy Four format talks involving Russia, Ukraine, France and Germany.
"Under current circumstances it is of course impossible to speak about upcoming meetings in the Normandy format as many European partners wanted. That is a serious situation, which must be analyzed. We are doing that now," Lavrov added.
