Kravchuk Calls for Direct Talks between Putin and Poroshenko

Minsk agreements signed in February 2015 is a dead-end road unless Russia doesn’t observe them. Bilateral negotiations on Donbas between Ukraine and Russia should be initiated instead, the first President of contemporary Ukraine Leonid Kravchuk believes.

"I am severe upon the Minsk agreement, because it is a dead-end road," Liga.net cites his interview on ‘5 Kanal.’

"The Minsk agreement served its purpose as it stopped the possible broad scale aggression and brought Putin to negotiations. Although he is maneuvering, he is still bind by this agreement, and it is definitely a positive outcome. However, the agreement can’t secure territorial integrity and sovereignty of Ukraine, return Donbas and Crimea," Kravchuk said.

He offered Poroshenko to conduct direct talks with Russia President Putin without any intermediaries.

"If it is hard, let’s first create working groups to consider disputes. When diplomats talk, the mortars are silent," Kravchuk highlighted.

"We have to come to an agreement. It doesn’t mean that the sanctions are lifted as soon as we start negotiations, only after we reach agreement," he added.

It was reported earlier that the Trilateral Contact Group in Minsk agreed to ‘indefinite ceasefire’ in Donbas starting September 1.

Source: Ukrayinska Pravda