India on Thursday (local time) has welcomed all efforts at reducing tension in the war-ridden Eastern Ukraine region and expressed hope that all sides will work constructively to find political and diplomatic solutions to the conflict.
Speaking during a United Nations Security Council (UNSC) open briefing, India's Deputy Permanent Representative to UN, K Nagaraj Naidu said: "India welcomes all efforts aimed at reducing tension in the region and hope that all sides will work together constructively to find political and diplomatic solutions to the issue."
Speaking on the Minsk Agreements, passed by a UNSC Resolution in 2015, the Deputy Permanent Representative commented that India believed that those agreements provide a basis for negotiated and peaceful settlement of the situation in Eastern Ukraine.
"We also believe that meetings under the Normandy Format will further facilitate the resolution of the issues related to the implementation of the provisions of the Minsk Agreements, including its key security and political agreements," he said.
Naidu asserted that peaceful settlement of disputes is an important tool in the maintenance of international peace and security and in the promotion of the rule of law.
"When the parties concerned come to mutually negotiated agreements, such agreements take precedence even over resolutions adopted by the Security Council, particularly since these are not externally imposed but mutually agreed between parties concerned and hence have every chance of success," he added.
The conflict in Eastern Ukraine broke out back in 2014 when the country's military launched an offensive against Donbas militias after Donetsk and Luhansk proclaimed independence from Kiev in response to what they considered to be a coup in the Ukrainian capital. The conflict has already resulted in thousands of casualties, according to estimates by the United Nations, reported Sputnik.
To find a peaceful settlement to the conflict, Russia, Ukraine and the OSCE created the Trilateral Contact Group in 2014.
Sputnik reported that since July 27, 2020, when additional measures were implemented to strengthen the ceasefire in the region took effect, the security situation has been relatively calm.
( With inputs from ANI )
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