The leaders discussed in detail the situation in southeast Ukraine, which remains tense and volatile, in the context of implementing the Minsk Agreements reached on February 12, 2015. The decision was made to extend the Agreements for the duration of 2016 and noted the importance of the Contact Group’s further efforts for the full and comprehensive implementation of the Package of Minsk Measures.
The leaders stressed a crucial need for strict compliance with the ceasefire regime along the contact line in Donbass. This would create the preconditions for implementing tasks that would secure the advancement of a political settlement. It was agreed, in particular, to intensify discussions in the Contact Group on speedy development and adoption of the law on local elections in some districts of Donetsk and Lugansk regions.
The foreign ministers of Russia, Germany, France and Ukraine have been instructed to conduct at the beginning of 2016 a thorough appraisal of the implementation of the Minsk Agreements. Personal contacts between the four countries’ leaders will continue.
Vladimir Putin gave his assessments regarding the impact of the EU-Ukraine Association Agreement for the Russian-Ukrainian cooperation, stressing that Russia was forced to shift to the most favoured nation regime in its trade with Ukraine. The issues related to the supply of Russian gas to Ukraine were also discussed.