Poroshenko: Sanctions are great motivation for Russia to fulfill Minsk agreements

President Petro Poroshenko is confident that sanctions will remain a powerful mechanism that makes Russia take part in negotiations on the settlement of the situation in Donbas and lead to the fulfillment of the Minsk agreements.

The press service of the Head of State reported.

“It is a powerful motivation for Russians to sit down at the negotiating table and fulfill their obligations. First of all - security component of the Minsk agreements: ceasefire, withdrawal of artillery, heavy armament, liberation of hostages and access to all occupied territories for the OSCE SMM,” the Head of State told journalists in Odesa.

 “Sanctions are applied, because the world recognizes that Russia doesn’t fulfill the undertaken commitments,” Petro Poroshenko stressed and thanked the EU leaders for unilateral approval of the decision on prolongation of sanctions. He also expressed gratitude to the USA and other countries for synchronous continuation of sanctions.

The President noted that further actions in the Normandy format would be coordinated at the Ukraine-NATO Summit in Warsaw.

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