Linkevicius accuses Putin of undermining Minsk agreements

  • 2015-08-17
  • BNS/TBT Staff/VILNIUS

Lithuania’s Foreign Minister, Linas Linkevicius, has accused Russian President, Vladimir Putin, of deliberately undermining the Minsk ceasefire agreements. 

On Monday August 17, 2015, Linkevicius tweeted Putin’s visit to Crimea, and the recent escalation in violence in Eastern Ukraine were “coordinated efforts” to undermine the Minsk Agreements. 

“Putin’s trip to Ukraine’s Crimea, and increased fatal violence by separatists look like coordinated efforts to undermine the Minsk agreements,” wrote Linkevicius. 

August 17 also saw the Ukrainian government and pro-Russian separatists confirm 10 people in Eastern Ukraine had been killed. 

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko also accused Putin of raising tensions in Ukraine as a result of his trip to Crimea. 

The Minsk Agreements were initially signed in the Belarusian capital on September 5, 2014, to stop the war in Ukraine’s Donbass region. 

Following the separatists’ victory at the Battle of Donetsk airport in January 2015, the ceasefire had collapsed. 

Further attempts to halt the fighting in the Donbass, the Minsk II agreement, were signed on February 12 this year. 

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