Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov stated that Ukraine refuses to meet its obligations under the Minsk peace agreement to resolve the conflict with Russian-backed separatists. Bloomberg reported that Lavrov's remarks came during a phone call on Saturday with French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian, according to a statement from the Russian Foreign Ministry.
France and Germany are mediating in the Russian-Ukrainian conflict through what is known as the "Normandy Format." The Russian Foreign Ministry also noted that the two ministers discussed Russia's demands for binding security guarantees.
It should be noted that the Minsk Agreement, a French-German mediated peace plan established in 2015, is intended for the conflict in eastern Ukraine. The agreement stipulates that the two Russian-backed separatist regions should enjoy autonomy in Ukraine, but Kyiv has yet to propose legislation for such autonomy.
Fighting between Ukrainian forces and Russian-backed separatists has been ongoing since 2014, resulting in the deaths of more than 14,000 people.
