Russia is obliged to stick to the Minsk deal. This is the only document that can serve as the beginning of de-escalation, Prime Minister of Ukraine Arseniy Yatsenyuk emphasized following a meeting with Deputy Prime Minister, Foreign Minister of Belgium Didier Reinders on Monday, December 8.

Arseniy Yatsenyuk said that during his meeting with Didier Reinders was discussed a range of issues on bilateral cooperation, especially cooperation between Ukraine and the European Union.

The Prime Minister has stressed that Ukraine faces two main challenges - "security and economy": "These two challenges are deeply intertwined".

Regarding the security situation, Arseniy Yatsenyuk stressed that "Russia is obliged to stick to the Minsk deal": "If Russia continues an aggressive policy both against Ukraine and the whole world, it must continue to pay the price, including through new sanctions, through our unity, the unity of the member countries of the European Union, Ukraine and the United States."

The Minsk agreement, according to the Prime Minister of Ukraine, is "the only document that can serve as the beginning of de-escalation": "Implement what was signed."

The situation in the economy, the Prime Minister of Ukraine stressed, is extremely difficult, "And every month due to the conflict in eastern Ukraine, due to the destroyed infrastructure, destroyed industrial production, we are undergoing a fall in incomes."

"Due to the fact that bandits and Russian terrorists are robbing cash-in-transit vans and taking money away from people, we cannot physically deliver pensions and salaries to Donetsk and Luhansk. We did our utmost to prevent the humanitarian catastrophe there, but because of Russian terrorists this catastrophe is threatening the whole Ukraine," he underlined.

Arseniy Yatsenyuk appealed to members of the new Parliament: "Our task is to adopt a package of economic laws that will enable us to survive in 2015, which, on the one hand, implies the simplification and reduction of taxation, on the other hand, a significant decrease in state budget expenditures as well as the revision and optimization of a number of social programs.

"It is our common responsibility primarily to the Ukrainian people. And we are waiting for the International Monetary Fund and our other foreign creditors that don’t give money for nothing. We’ve received the first two tranches just because we carried out all the reforms that are needed for the country and met international standards. We must move on, and we will move forward with the support of our European partners," the Prime Minister of Ukraine emphasized.

Arseniy Yatsenyuk thanked the Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Belgium "for unity within the European Union, for a clear and tough position committed to supporting the territorial integrity of Ukraine": "Together with the European Union we shall build a strong project – a European Ukraine."