Brussels, 03/07/2014 (Agence Europe) - On Wednesday 2 July, the foreign affairs ministers of Ukraine, Russia, Germany and France - Pavlo Klimkin, Sergei Lavrov, Frank-Walter Steinmeier and Laurent Fabius respectively - underlined “the necessity of a sustainable ceasefire, to be agreed upon swiftly and to be observed by all concerned, thus putting an end to violence in Eastern Ukraine”. In a joint statement after their meeting, they also “urged” the contact group - a group formed by Ukraine, Russia and the OSCE - to resume meeting “no later than” 5 July “with the goal of reaching an unconditional and mutually agreed sustainable ceasefire”. The ceasefire should be monitored by the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission in Ukraine in conformity with its mandate, the four foreign ministers state.
The four foreign ministers agreed “to take all necessary measures” and “use their influence on the concerned parties with a view to achieving this goal” of a ceasefire. They stressed “the importance of a swift release of all hostages” and reiterated the need to ensure the security of journalists.
In addition, the ministers agreed that the Russian-Ukrainian border posts should be returned to Kiev's control. They welcomed Russia's readiness to grant Ukrainian border guards access to Russian territory in order to participate in the control of border crossings at the checkpoints Gukovo and Donetsk while the mutually agreed ceasefire is in place. “This shall be done in close collaboration between Russian and Ukrainian border authorities and pending the return of the Ukrainian checkpoints Izvarino and Krasnopartizansk to Ukrainian government control”, the four foreign ministers stated. They called on the OSCE to take all necessary steps to deploy OSCE-observers at the Russian checkpoints of Gukovo and Donetsk, in response to the Russian invitation. “All sides must contribute to a secure environment”, the four minister reiterated. (CG)