Russia, US Greet Ukraine Ceasefire

KABUL: (Middle East Press) Russia and the US have welcomed the ceasefire agreement between the Ukrainian government and the pro-Russia forces after five months of fighting in eastern Ukraine.

“The Russian presidential office welcomes the signing of the protocol in Minsk,” President Vladimir Putin’s spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, said on Friday.

He added that the agreement was the result of proposals by Putin and Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko, noting, “Moscow hopes all the provisions of the document and the agreements reached will be thoroughly observed by the parties and that the negotiating process will continue until the crisis in Ukraine is fully resolved.”

US President Barack Obama also welcomed the ceasefire but expressed disbelief over determination of pro-Russia militias and Moscow to implement the deal.

“With respect to the ceasefire agreement, obviously we are hopeful but based on past experience also skeptical that in fact the separatists will follow through and the Russians will stop violating Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity. So it has to be tested,” Obama told a Friday news conference as he was leaving a two-day NATO summit in Wales.

He called on his European allies to agree on new sanctions against Russia that could be suspended if the truce is despoiled.

The ceasefire was signed after two hours of negotiations in the Belarusian capital city of Minsk on Friday between former Ukrainian president, Leonid Kuchma, who represented the government in Kiev, and rebel leaders, Igor Plotnitsky and Alexander Zakharchenko.

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko ordered troops to stop all hostilities by 15:00 GMT and instructed the Foreign Ministry to oversee monitoring of the ceasefire along with the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE).

Following the agreement, Plotnitsky stressed that truce does not mean a change in their goal to split from Ukraine.