REUTERS

The UN Security Council will gather on February 18 on Russia's initiative to discuss the implementation of the Minsk agreements.

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"In connection with the fifth anniversary of the Minsk agreements, marked today [February 12], Russia has requested holding an open UN Security Council session with an OSCE envoy's participation to analyze the implementation of the agreements," Russia's First Deputy Envoy to the UN Dmitry Polyansky told the Russian news agency TASS.

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UNIAN memo. Peace talks on Donbas, eastern Ukraine, were held in Minsk on February 12, 2015. The participants were the then President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko, the then French President Francois Hollande, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, and Russian President Vladimir Putin.

As a result of the negotiations, a set of measures aimed at implementing the Minsk agreements reached in September 2014 was approved. In addition, a declaration was adopted by the leaders of Ukraine, France, Germany, and Russia in support of these measures.

Among other things, the agreements reached by the Normandy Four leaders provide for a ceasefire in eastern Ukraine, the withdrawal of all heavy weapons from Ukrainian territory, the exchange and release of all hostages, as well as the holding of local elections in Donbas.