France’s Foreign Ministry informed that the murder of the head of so-called “DNR” Aleksandr Zakharchenko should not doubt the commitment of the sides of the Minsk Agreements, as the website of the Ministry reports.
The representatives of the Ministry noted that they still consider the Normandy format meeting of Germany, France, Russia and Ukraine reasonable.
“Tension occurs right at the moment when honest talks are to begin,” the statement says.
Earlier it was reported that the militants stopped to pass people through the demarcation line after the death of Zakharchenko.
Reportedly, the Russian side supposed that Minsk Agreements might not be obligated after Zakharchenko’s death. Vyacheslav Volodin, Russian State Duma Spokesperson, stated that Zakharchenko’s murder “zeros” the sense of the Minsk Agreements.
However, on September 3, the Kremlin’s Spokesperson Dmitry Peskov stated that Russia would not exit the Minsk process due to this incident.
Reportedly, on August 31, as a result of the explosion in the restaurant in the downtown of Donetsk, head of so-called “DNR” Aleksandr Zakharchenko died. The Russian mass media reported that Oleksandr Timofeyev, so-called "minister of revenue and duties" of so-called "DNR" has also died. The so-called “law enforcers” of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic stated that they detained “Ukrainian saboteurs” who are presumably involved in the assassination of Zakharchenko. Although, SBU hasn’t approved the information.
ORDO, Separate district of Donetsk region, suspects one of the guards of Zakharchenko in his death. At the same time, the Russian MFA accused "Kyiv regime" in the death of Zakharchenko. It was reported on the closure of all crossing checkpoints along the Inter-Entity Boundary Line because of the incident. Russian President Vladimir Putin expressed his condolences over the murder of Zakharchenko.
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