DPR Leader's Murder Substantial Blow To Minsk Process - Russia's Envoy To OSCE

DPR Leader's Murder Substantial Blow to Minsk Process - Russia's Envoy to OSCE

The murder of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic (DPR) leader Alexander Zakharchenko last week has dealt a significant blow to the Minsk process, Russia's Permanent Representative to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) Alexander Lukashevich told Sputnik.

VIENNA (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 03rd September, 2018) The murder of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic (DPR) leader Alexander Zakharchenko last week has dealt a significant blow to the Minsk process, Russia's Permanent Representative to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) Alexander Lukashevich told Sputnik.

"A significant blow has been dealt to the entire Minsk process. We believe that those forces that still choose the tactics of terror and sabotage of the Minsk accords are playing with fire, heating up the situation and doing everything possible to frustrate the prospects for a peaceful settlement," Lukashevich said.

He said Kiev was unwilling to come to an agreement within the framework of the Minsk process, and the murder was one more confirmation of this.

"I think that this terror act is another proof that the Ukrainian side is not ready and does not want to implement the agreements reached during the Minsk settlement process. That is also why work of the contact group is stalled. We repeatedly said that the main reason the settlement process was halted is Kiev's open and deliberate sabotage of the Minsk accords," the envoy said.

Lukashevich said Russia regretted that the OSCE leadership had not reacted to Zakharchenko's assassination and urged the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission to intensify monitoring on the disengagement line in Donbas.

Zakharchenko was killed in a bomb blast in the center of the DPR capital of Donetsk on Friday. The Russian Foreign Ministry and DPR officials said that Kiev was behind the assassination. The Ukrainian Security Service denied involvement in the attack and said Zakharchenko had been killed in a money-related squabble.

Ukraine has been in a state of civil war since 2014, when Kiev launched a military offensive against the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Luhansk people's republics after they refused to recognize a new government. In 2015, Russia, Ukraine, France, and Germany brokered the Minsk peace accords in a bid to end hostilities in the area. Another attempt to facilitate the settlement was the establishment of the Contact Group on Ukraine that includes Ukraine, Russia and the OSCE. However, the warring parties continue to record ceasefire violations.