Joint Statement of the Ministers of France, Germany, Russia and Ukraine, 21 January 2015, Berlin
The Foreign Ministers of France, Germany, Russia and Ukraine continued theirdiscussion on the way ahead towards a peaceful settlement of the crisis situation in Eastern Ukraine on the basis of the Minsk agreements, including a sustainable political process.
They note with serious concern that their call for full respect of the regime of quiet has not been followed, and that, to the contrary, fighting in the Donbassarea has severely escalated causing the loss of many human lives including civilians. This must stop immediately and the regime of quiet must be restored. They call on all actors on the ground to fully respect it.
Ministers call on all sides involved to cease hostilities and to withdraw heavy weapons in accordance with the Line of Contact as stipulated in the Annex to the Minsk Memorandum, September 19, 2014, to be monitored by the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission and supported by agreed mechanisms on the ground.
Ministers reiterate that tangible progress on the full implementation of the Minsk agreements must be achieved ahead of a planned summit meeting in Astana, in particular by the creation of the relevant conditions for an effective cease-fire, an agreement on modalities for the delivery of humanitarian aid and the continuation of the release of detainees.
Ministers reiterate their support for the Trilateral Contact Group and call on all signatories of the Minsk agreements to meet in the coming days to implement the ceasefire and the withdrawal of heavy weapons in accordance with the line of contact as agreed in Minsk on September 19 and create the conditions for a full implementation of the provisions of the Minsk agreements.
They also call on the Trilateral Contact Group to establish Working Groups on relevant aspects of the Minsk agreements.