NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg welcomes the outcome of the Normandy Four negotiations and calls on all sides to implement Minsk agreements, according to an UNIAN correspondent reporting from Stoltenberg`s joint press conference with Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko in Brussels.
”I welcome that you had a meeting yesterday in the `Normandy Format` in Berlin. And I thank you for updating me on the outcome of that meeting and the discussions you just had, including the plan to create a new road map for implementing the Minsk Agreement,” Stoltenberg said.
According to the NATO chief, it is essential to implement the Minsk Agreement, because they are the ”only viable way to a lasting, peaceful solution to the crisis in eastern Ukraine.”
”All parties must fully implement the Minsk Agreement. Ukraine has responsibilities to implement its commitments, but Russia has a significant responsibility in this regard, because it continues to support the separatists,” Stoltenberg said.
The NATO secretary general said the Bloc`s support for Ukraine is ”unwavering”.
”We will continue to support the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Ukraine,” he said.
”We do not – and we will not – recognise Russia`s illegal annexation of Crimea,” said Stoltenberg. ”And we are very much concerned about Russia`s continued destabilisation of eastern Ukraine.”
