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Derechos | Equipo Nizkor
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| Information | | |
Derechos | Equipo Nizkor
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20Sep14
Contact group on Ukraine signs ceasefire implementation memorandum
After six hours of nighttime talks in the Belarussian capital Minsk the Contact Group on Ukraine has signed a memorandum on measures to implement the ceasefire agreement, concluded in principle on September 5.
As Ukraine's former president, Leonid Kuchma, said after the talks the memorandum implied "the termination of the use of weapons is considered comprehensive."
Also, he said that under the document the conflicting parties' forces should be left at their positions they were holding as at September 19, and a ban on the use of all weapons and offensive operations effected within 24 hours.
"The memorandum also requires the pullout of all weapons with a calibre of more than 100 millimeters to a distance of no less than 15 kilometres on each side," Kuchma said.
The memorandum also imposes a ban on planting mines, flights by combat aviation and drones except for OSCE aircraft.
The OSCE was commissioned to monitor the implementation of the achieved agreements. Its observers will be placed along the whole disengagement line.
The contact group agreed that the process of exchanging prisoners of war will continue. According to the Russian ambassador to Ukraine Mikhail Zurabov, since the conclusion of September 5 truce the sides exchanged 120 men each.
The prime minister of the self-proclaimed Donetsk Republic, Aleksandr Zakharchenko has said the question whether the Donetsk and Lugansk republics would remain parts of Ukraine was not discussed. He added the issued remained on the agenda, though.
A twenty-four-hour deadline has been set for implementing the just-agreed arrangements.
[Source: Itar Tass, Minsk, 20Sep14]
 | This document has been published on 22Sep14 by the Equipo Nizkor and Derechos Human Rights. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this material is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. |