Russia not to act as guarantor of truce in Donbass - Putin's press secretary

Russia will not act as a guarantor of the truce that has begun in the Donbass, since it does not consider itself a party to the conflict. This was stated by press secretary of the President of the Russian Federation Dmitry Peskov, - TASS reports.

"This (declaration of a complete ceasefire - OstroV) is a very significant and positive step towards strengthening mutual trust and defusing tensions on the line of contact", - the Kremlin spokesman said. According to him, "it will be important that both sides fully adhere to their obligations and agreements".

At the same time, Russia cannot act as a guarantor of compliance with the ceasefire in the Donbass, since the Russian Federation does not consider itself a party to this conflict, - Peskov said, answering the question whether Moscow can give guarantees of compliance with an indefinite armistice.

"(Consolidate this agreement) at the level of the Normandy format is one thing, but I do not think that we can say about any guarantees from Russia in this case, because Russia is not a party to the conflict in the South-East of Ukraine", - he explained.

Answering the question whether Moscow and Kyiv should operate with the same definitions regarding the conflict in the Donbass, Peskov urged "to proceed from the formulations that are in the Minsk Package of Measures".

As previously reported, a complete and comprehensive ceasefire came into force in the Donbass today from 00.00.

As previously reported, Russia does not comply with the main provisions of the protocol signed on September 5, 2014 in Minsk. In particular, the Minsk Protocol provides for an immediate bilateral cessation of the use of weapons, permanent monitoring on the Ukrainian-Russian state border and verification by the OSCE with the creation of a security zone in the border regions of Ukraine and the Russian Federation, the removal of illegal armed formations, military equipment, as well as militants and mercenaries from the territory of Ukraine. Instead, Russia supports the occupation authorities of Donbass with weapons, ammunition, military equipment and personnel on a permanent basis. Russia also strongly oppose monitoring of a section of the state border uncontrolled by Ukraine, through which columns of military equipment regularly enter the occupied Donbass and through which Ukrainian coal and products of Ukrainian metallurgical plants are exported from CADLO and so on.