Tremendous work ahead to implement Minsk agreements - PA OSCE president

MOSCOW, February 12. /TASS/. Ilkka Kanerva, president of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, has praised the results of the Minsk talks in the "Normandy format" on Thursday. "We welcome the talks and reached agreements because they allow to hold a political dialogue and solve the conflict by diplomatic means instead of military methods," Kanerva said. To successfully implement the agreements, "the international community will have to make a tremendous amount of work," Kanerva said. "The cooperation between all partners is necessary in order to move in the constructive direction. Of course, the biggest role in the settlement should be played by Ukraine and Russia, and from the OSCE side - by Switzerland, Romania and Serbia," he stressed. Council of Europe Secretary General Thorbjorn Jagland has also positively assessed the results of the "Normandy Quartet" talks on Ukraine in Minsk, the statement sent to TASS said. Ceasefire in eastern Ukraine will be implemented starting from February 15, and heavy weaponry will be withdrawn from the disengagement line. "Today’s agreement provides a basis for an effective ceasefire, but it is clear that much still needs to be done," Jagland said. "German Chancellor Angela Merkel, French President Francois Hollande, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko did everything they could for this to happen," he added. Jagland said he hopes the Minsk agreements will help "pave a road for new political solutions through the constitutional reform, which will allow to carry out necessary decentralization while fully observing the territorial integrity of Ukraine on the basis of European standards." Earlier, Denmark’s Foreign Minister Martin Lidegaard has praised the agreement reached at the "Normandy Quartet" meeting on Ukraine in Minsk. "This is great news from Minsk, which, I think, everyone will find satisfying," Lidegaard said. "It is important to stress, however, that this joy may materialize only if ceasefire is implemented and maintained," he noted. "I prefer to be an optimist though," the minister said. Italy’s Prime Minister Matteo Renzi, who arrived in Brussels today, has called the outcome of the Minsk talks "a great result." President of the European Parliament Martin Schultz has also welcomed the ceasefire agreement reached in Minsk. Read more