The website of the Washington State Department, taken up by the news agency "interfax Ukraine", announced that Tillerson, US Secretary of State, will be in London on January 21, where he will meet the British Foreign Minister Boris Johnson and the adviser National Security Officer Mark Sedwill, to discuss cooperation and issues related to the interests shared by the two countries on a global scale, including Iran, Syria, Libya, North Korea. The secretary, on that occasion and, before going to France, on January 23, where he will have meetings with the officials of the Foreign Ministry to examine issues relating to areas of conflict and crisis in the world, will also address the issue relating to Ukraine.
The whole eastern area of Ukraine has been experiencing a situation of profound instability and uncertainty since April 2014, following a military operation, launched by the Kiev authorities, to regain control of the region from the militias of the self-declared republics of Donetsk and Luhansk who support Donbass independence.
The agreements reached in Minsk by the OSCE Trilateral Contact Group - Russia, Ukraine and the two self-proclaimed republics - provide for:
- a complete ceasefire;
- the withdrawal of armaments from the contact line in eastern Ukraine;
- the mutual exchange of all prisoners held by both parties;
- of the constitutional reforms that confer a special status to the self-proclaimed republics.
France, Germany, Russia and Ukraine are monitoring compliance with this agreement.
However, since the agreements have been signed, the two sides accuse each other of opposing their implementation.