Moscow said Tuesday, March 30 that the peace process in Ukraine was deadlocked, judging Kiev responsible, in the midst of "
escalating tensions
" between Ukrainian forces and pro-Russian separatists in the east of the country.
Read also: Ukraine: investigation into war crimes
Asked about the state of the so-called “
Normandy
”
peace negotiations
, which bring together Ukraine, Russia, France and Germany, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said “
things are bad
” in an interview with the newspaper Argoumenty i facty.
According to him, “
it was not possible to make progress in the implementation
” of the Minsk peace agreements signed in 2015 and those concluded in Paris at the end of 2019 and which led to a drastic reduction in violence but did not political settlement permit.
Dmitry Peskov blamed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, whom he accused of "
totally rejecting any idea of dialogue
" with the separatists.
"
How to settle a conflict if one party does not want to communicate with the other?
", he said.
“
We are now seeing an escalation of tensions on the contact line.
In fact, the modest achievements that were made before have been erased,
”continued Dmitry Peskov.
"
Tensions are increasing and no one sees a reason to come together at the highest level,
" he regretted.
A truce has held throughout the second half of 2020, but armed clashes have increased since January, claiming the lives of 19 Ukrainian soldiers, including four on Friday.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky called at the beginning of March to hold a “
Normandy
” -type
summit
to appease the outbreak of violence in the East.
But Moscow deemed such a summit premature.
Russia is widely seen as the military and political godfather of separatists in Ukraine, despite its denials.
The conflict began in 2014 just after the Russian annexation of Crimea, another Ukrainian territory, in the wake of a pro-Western revolution in Kiev.
The war claimed more than 13,000 lives
