WASHINGTON — Kurt Volker, the special U.S. envoy to Ukraine, says Russia’s move to fast-track the granting of citizenship to all residents of the Ukrainian regions of Donetsk and Luhansk runs counter to efforts to achieve peace in an armed conflict that is in its fifth year.
Volker said that by expediting Russian passports for Ukrainian citizens, the measure “flies in the face [and] in the spirit of the Minsk [peace] agreements,” in a tweet posted on July 18.
“Russia needs to fulfill its Minsk obligations,” he said.
Cease-fire deals announced as part of the Minsk accords — September 2014 and February 2015 …read more
