A truce between Russia-backed separatists and the Ukrainian army will come into force on Monday in eastern Ukraine, according to Russia's foreign minister.

The deal was brokered on Saturday at the Munich security conference with the participation of Ukraine, Russia, Germany and France.

"It is positive that the contact group [of foreign ministers of the four countries] agreed once again for the start of a ceasefire on February 20," Sergey Lavrov said.

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The agreement also concerns "the start of the withdrawal of heavy arms" in eastern Ukraine.

The Munich meeting "examined where we were with the implementation of accords reached" by the presidents of the four countries in Berlin in October, Lavrov said.

"We observed that there hasn't been major progress in terms of results of the decisions taken in Berlin," he said.

Jean-Marc Ayrault, French foreign minister, said neither Russia nor Ukraine had offered any alternatives to the Minsk process.

"The meeting showed that Russians and Ukrainians had no other option but to respect Minsk. They have no alternatives," he said.

"We agree to meet quickly, perhaps in three weeks, to see if we can advance on the ceasefire, withdrawal of heavy weapons and exchange of prisoners. We need a lot of patience, because we can see a lack of will on either side."

Fighting has recently intensified in the conflict, killing nearly 30 people at the start of February.

Major development

The news of the deal overshadowed a major development announced in Russia.

President Vladimir Putin ordered Russian authorities on Saturday to temporarily recognise civil registration documents issued in separatist-held areas of eastern Ukraine, indirectly recognising the self-proclaimed republics of Donetsk and Luhansk.

The move will enable people from the conflict-hit region to travel, work or study in Russia.

The new legislation will be in place until a "political settlement of the situation" in these regions based on the Minsk peace accords, the Kremlin said.

READ MORE: Foreign students face uncertain future in east Ukraine

Ukrainian authorities sharply criticised Putin's decision, saying Russia had violated the Minsk peace process.

"For me, this is another proof of Russian occupation as well as Russian violation of international law," Ukraine's President Petro Poroshenko said in Munich.

Oleksander Turchynov, secretary of Ukraine's National Security and Defence Council, which is headed by Poroshenko, said: "This step completely negates the Minsk process."

Almost three years of fighting between government forces and Russia-backed rebels in eastern Ukraine have killed nearly 10,000 people.</s>(CNN) Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told reporters on Saturday that a ceasefire will go into effect for eastern Ukraine on Monday.

His comments followed a meeting with the foreign ministers for Ukraine, Germany and France in Munich, according to Russian state television.

Eastern Ukraine has seen a spike in violence in recent months between Russian-backed separatists and Ukrainian armed forces as efforts to enforce previous ceasefires in the three-year-old conflict have failed.

Lavrov called it positive that the foreign ministers "agreed once again for the state of a ceasefire on February 20."

He said the agreement also concerns "the start of the withdrawal of heavy arms" in eastern Ukraine, a key element in the Minsk agreement, which was negotiated two years ago but never fully implemented.

It also called for the withdrawal of foreign troops, local elections and full control of the border by Ukraine.

It's probably too soon for people to be optimistic about the latest ceasefire agreement, according to CNN International Diplomatic Editor Nic Robertson, but "what you have here are the ingredients to reinvigorate the Minsk agreement," he said.

Earlier this month, the US ambassador to the United Nations, Nikki Haley, made it clea r that any lifting of Russian sanctions would be tied to a withdrawal from Crimea.

European leaders won't lift sanctions until full implementation of the Minsk agreement.

"What we seem to be seeing here is Sergei Lavrov perhaps taking a step further to make that happen," Robertson said.

Also Saturday, Russian President Vladimir Putin issued an executive order recognizing official documents of Ukrainians living in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions, according to a Kremlin statement.

It allows "Ukrainian citizens and stateless persons permanently residing in certain districts of Ukraine's Donetsk and Lugansk regions can enter and leave the Russian Federation without applying for visas," according to the statement.

'Violation of international law'

Ukraine's President Petro Poroshenko slammed Putin's order.

"For me, it is another evidence of Russian occupation and violation of international law. It is very symbolical and cynical that it happened during the Munich Security Conference," he said in a statement.

Later Saturday, the Ukrainian leader met with US Vice President Mike Pence and "informed him on that decision of Russian President Putin," according to Poroshenko's office.

"We have once again received a powerful signal that the USA stands with Ukraine, that Ukraine is among the top priorities for the new US administration," Poroshenko said after the meeting. "The issue of Crimea and decisive struggle for the liberation of Crimea also remain among priorities."</s>MUNICH, Germany -- Russia's decision to recognize identification documents issued by separatists in eastern Ukraine will hurt the chances for a cease-fire to take hold, the head of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) told RFE/RL on February 19.

The abrupt Russian move is also a setback for efforts to end the war that has killed more than 9,750 people since April 2014, a goal that already seems “a long way” off, OSCE Secretary-General Lamberto Zannier said in an interview on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference.

Meeting in Munich on February 18, the foreign ministers of Russia, Ukraine, and mediators Germany and France agreed to a new push to implement a cease-fire in eastern Ukraine, where Russia-backed separatists hold parts of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions, to begin on February 20.

At the same time, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed an order authorizing the recognition of documents issued by the separatist-led, self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic and Luhansk People’s Republic.

“The steps taken last night by Russia to recognize these documents are making implementation more difficult,” Zannier said of the agreement known as Minsk II, a much-violated February 2015 accord that imposed a cease-fire and set out a plan for resolving the conflict.

The Russian move “implies…recognition of those who issue the documents, of course,” Zannier said.

“This makes us think of Abkhazia-like situations,” he said, referring to one of two breakaway Georgian regions that Russia recognized as independent countries after fighting a brief war against Georgia in 2008.

Russia has not formally recognized the self-proclaimed separatist entities in Ukraine as independent, and Moscow’s stated position is that they should be part of Ukraine. Analysts say Russia hopes to continue to use them as long as it can to destabilize Ukraine and maintain pressure on its pro-Western government.

Speaking to reporters in Munich after meeting with U.S. Vice President Mike Pence on February 18, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said Putin’s order was "more evidence of the Russian occupation and Russia's violation of international law."

In a post on Twitter on February 19, the U.S. Embassy in Kyiv said the Russian decision was “alarming and incompatible with the agreed-on goals of the Minsk peace process.”

After a Moscow-friendly Ukrainian president was pushed from power by protests in February 2014, Russia seized the Crimean Peninsula from Kyiv’s control and fomented separatism in the country’s east and south, where many people speak Russian.

Russia denies involvement in the war in eastern Ukraine, despite what Kyiv and Western nations say is overwhelming evidence that it has sent substantial numbers of troops and weapons across the border to support separatist forces.

Russia’s interference in Ukraine has badly strained its ties with the West, prompting the United States, the European Union, and other nations to impose sanctions.

Speaking at the Munich conference on February 18, hours before Putin’s order was announced, Pence said that the United States would “hold Russia accountable” for its actions even as the administration of President Donald Trump seeks “common ground” with Moscow.

Like Western leaders who spoke at the three-day conference, including German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Zannier said there is no alternative to the Minsk agreements -- the 2015 pact and an initial agreement reached in September 2014 -- for ending the war.

“I remain convinced that the Minsk agreements are the best -- and the only, in fact -- path to get out of this.”

Minsk II was supposed to be implemented in full by the end of 2015. But Zannier said that more than a year later, even elections in the separatist-held areas -- which are just one step in the plan -- seem like a distant prospect.

“The concept is not agreed, and the conditions for holding them are not there,” he said. “So it’s really a long way away.”</s>Russian President Vladimir Putin has ordered authorities to temporarily recognise passports and civil registration documents issued in rebel-held areas of eastern Ukraine.

The decision, condemned by Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko, will reportedly allow people from the conflict-torn area to travel, work and study in Russia.

The order recognises documents like diplomas, birth and marriage certificates, identity documents and vehicle registration plates on a temporary basis from the regions of Donetsk and Luhansk.

Poroshenko said while speaking to reporters in Munich, Germany: "For me, this is another proof of Russian occupation as well as Russian violation of international law."

Oleksander Turchynov, secretary of Ukraine's National Security and Defence Council, said: "The Minsk process provides for the de-occupation of eastern Ukraine and its restitution to the legal force of the state.

"By signing this decree, Putin has legally recognised the quasi-state terrorist groups which cover Russia's occupation of part of Donbas."

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, however, said it was humanitarian decision. He also said that heavy military hardware would be withdrawn from the area.

The fighting in eastern Ukraine has once again escalated tensions between pro-Russian rebels and the Ukrainian army. The Minsk agreement signed in February 2015 has been broken at frequent intervals by fighting that Ukraine and Russia accuse each other of instigating. The latest truce began on 23 December, 2016.

Around 9,700 people have been killed in the conflict that began in 2014 following the Russian annexation of Crimea. Russia-backed separatists later launched an insurgency in the east.</s>The Russian president has signed an executive order granting visa-free travel to anyone living in self-declared separatist republics in eastern Ukraine and recognising all documents issued by militias.

It gives birth, marriage and death certificates, identification, qualification, vehicle registration certificates and other documents issued by pro-Russian rebel “authorities” official recognition in Russia.

There is concern in Ukraine and the West that the Russian move may be followed by the annexation of the Donbass Republic , just like it annexed Crimea.

Many analysts expect the EU to issue red lines on this issue which took place hours after US Vice President vowed to ‘hold Russia to account’ in Ukraine.

Vladimir Putin has signed an executive order granting visa-free travel to anyone living in self-declared separatist republics in eastern Ukraine and recognising all documents issued by militias.

A Kremlin statement said the order was “guided by universally recognised principles and standards of international humanitarian law and in order to protect the rights and freedoms of individuals”.

It gives birth, marriage and death certificates, identification, qualification, vehicle registration certificates and other documents issued by pro-Russian rebel “authorities” official recognition in Russia.

Sergey Lavrov, the Russian foreign minister, claimed the recognition was afforded so “Donbass residents” can enter Russia legally, with thousands already fleeing over the border as asylum seekers.

Mr Putin’s order was released hours after the American Vice President told an international conference the US would “hold Russia accountable” for its actions.

Donald Trump made a series of warm statements towards Mr Putin during his campaign and has dismissed allegations of Russian interference in the election, but has adopted a more combative tone in recent days following international pressure over Ukraine.

The President accused Russia of using force to “take” Crimea, which it annexed from Ukraine in 2014, last week amid a fresh round of allegations over links between his administration and the Kremlin.

The Russian foreign ministry responded by calling the Black Sea peninsula “our territory” and declaring that it would not be returned.

Petro Poroshenko, the President of Ukraine, warned against any move to “appease” Russia on the issue.

“I hear increasingly obsessive calls for at least some degree of appeasement toward Russia’s appetite,” he said.

“To move in that direction would be naive, wrong and dangerous — not only for Ukraine, but also for Europe and for the world.”

Mike Pence claims there was no contact between Russia and Trump campaign

 Mr Putin’s latest order will be seen as another sign to the world that despite its repeated denials of backing Ukrainian rebels, it will not lessen its political support.

A Kremlin statement said it related to “certain districts of Ukraine’s Donetsk and Luhansk”, without specifically referring to the so-called People’s Republics installed on the Russian border during the Ukrainian civil war.

They emerged after months of fighting between separatist rebels and the Ukrainian government following the ousting of President Viktor Yanukovych, an ally of Mr Putin’s.

Russia has denied persistent allegations by Nato and the US and EU of arming rebels and sending its troops over the border, but has made no secret of its political backing for the Donbass “republics”.

They were created after referendums held in May 2014 that claimed to show strong support for independence in Donetsk and Luhansk, although no government officially recognised the result amid evidence of widespread fraud and voter intimidation.

The ongoing conflict, which has intensified in recent weeks, was a hot topic at the annual Munich Security Conference yesterday.

Mike Pence said the Trump administration would demand that Russia honours a 2015 peace deal agreed in Minsk, in efforts to end fighting in eastern Ukraine, which has been repeatedly violated by both sides.

“Know this: The United States will continue to hold Russia accountable, even as we search for new common ground, which as you know President Trump believes can be found,” the Vice President said.

The Russian foreign minister hit back by accusing Nato of Cold War-era expansionism and blaming the alliance for rising tensions and military deployments in Europe.

He later announced a fresh ceasefire brokered by Russian, Ukrainian, German and French negotiators to halt fighting between Kiev’s army and rebels from 20 February.

“On 20 February the ceasefire regime will start, and withdrawal of heavy military hardware will also start…failure should not be allowed to take place,” Mr Lavrov told reporters.

But the Ukrainian foreign minister, Pavlo Klimkin, said he was “not at all” happy with the result of talks.

Ukraine’s government has raised concern over an upsurge in fighting over the past month, seeing heavy artillery banned under the Minsk agreements hit residential areas including the frontline city of Avdiivka.

Thousands of people were left without electricity and water because of the battles, which saw rockets kill civilians attempting to shelter in their homes

The Ukrainian embassy in London describes rebels as “Russian terrorist forces”, while the separatists and Russian media frequently refer to government troops as “Nazis”.

Both sides accuse each other of ceasefire violations and war crimes in the conflict, which has killed more than 9,800 people since April 2014.</s>MOSCOW – Russian President Vladimir Putin on Saturday signed an executive order recognizing passports and other documents issued by Russian-backed separatists in southeast Ukraine, a controversial step that brings Moscow closer to de facto recognition of the breakaway republics.

The move triggered protests from Kiev and will provide an early test of the Trump administration’s ability to manage the three-year-old conflict as it seeks to reassure allies that it will continue to counterbalance Russian influence in Eastern Europe.

The executive order, which was posted Saturday on the Kremlin’s website, said that those living in areas of southeast Ukraine outside of Kiev’s control “can enter and leave the Russian Federation without applying for visas upon showing identification documents (birth certificates for children under the age of 16), issued by the corresponding authorities which are valid in the said districts.”

Those authorities are the Donetsk People’s Republic and Luhansk People’s Republic, the heavily militarized separatist governments that appeared in 2014 after a revolution in Kiev and Russia’s annexation of Crimea.

The West has accused them of serving as Russian proxies and Moscow of supplying them with Russian soldiers and arms.

Like Crimea, they held controversial referendums and sought to join Russia formally, but Moscow demurred. Since then, they have been locked in a grinding conflict with Kiev that has killed more than 10,000, according to the United Nations. A peace process called the Minsk Agreement, agreed upon in 2015, provides steps out of the conflict, but it has largely gone unfulfilled.

“This step by Kremlin completely destroys the Minsk process and is equal to Russia’s statement about an exit from that,” Oleksandr Turchynov, secretary of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine, said in a statement.

Moscow said it was motivated by humanitarian concerns, saying the decision would give residents of east Ukraine access to Russian public services and air and rail travel. Russia had previously denied quietly allowing the use of documents from the separatist republics, although an investigation earlier last year by the RBC television station showed that the documents were often accepted instead of Russian passports.

The executive order also covers license plates, marriage and divorce certificates, and university diplomas issued in southeast Ukraine.

The United States has previously punished Russia with sanctions for taking steps to integrate Crimea into mainland Russia. Banks and other companies doing business in Crimea have also been targeted.

The decision came just hours after a highly anticipated speech by Vice President Mike Pence in Munich, where he reassured European allies that the United States would urge Russia to respect the Minsk Agreement.

“Know this: The United States will continue to hold Russia accountable, even as we search for new common ground, which as you know President Trump believes can be found,” Pence said.</s>Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told reporters on Saturday that a ceasefire will go into effect for Eastern Ukraine on Monday.

His comments followed a meeting with the foreign ministers for Ukraine, Germany and France in Munich, according to Russian state television.

Eastern Ukraine has seen a spike in violence in recent months between Russian-backed separatists and Ukrainian armed forces as efforts to enforce previous ceasefires in the three-year-old conflict have failed.

Lavrov called it positive that the foreign ministers “agreed once again for the state of a ceasefire on February 20.”

He said the agreement also concerns “the start of the withdrawal of heavy arms” in eastern Ukraine, a key element in the Minsk agreement, which was negotiated two years ago but never fully implemented.

It also called for the withdrawal of foreign troops, local elections and full control of the border by Ukraine.

It’s probably too soon for people to be optimistic about the latest ceasefire agreement, according to CNN International Diplomatic Editor Nic Robertson, but “what you have here are the ingredients to reinvigorate the Minsk agreement,” he said.

Earlier this month, the US ambassador to the United Nations, Nikki Haley, made it clear that any lifting of Russian sanctions would be tied to a withdrawal from Crimea.

European leaders won’t lift sanctions until full implementation of the Minsk agreement.

“What we seem to be seeing here is Sergei Lavrov perhaps taking a step further to make that happen,” Robertson said.

Also Saturday, Russian President Vladimir Putin issued an executive order recognizing official documents of Ukrainians living in the Donetsk and Lugansk regions, according to a Kremlin statement.

It allows “Ukrainian citizens and stateless persons permanently residing in certain districts of Ukraine’s Donetsk and Lugansk regions can enter and leave the Russian Federation without applying for visas,” according to the statement.</s>Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed a decree temporarily recognizing identification documents issued in separatist-held areas of eastern Ukraine.

 

 The decision will allow people from the eastern Ukrainian regions of Donetsk and Luhansk to travel, work, or study in Russia.

 

 According to Putin's decree, Moscow will temporarily recognize identity documents, diplomas, birth and marriage certificates, and vehicle registration plates issued in the two Ukrainian regions.

 

 The decree said the new regulation will be in place until a "political settlement of the situation" in these regions based on the Minsk peace agreements.

 

 According to the decree, Putin signed it "to protect human rights and freedoms" in accordance with "the widely recognized principles of international humanitarian law."

 

 The signing of the decree came amid tougher talk on Russia by the United States.

 

 U.S. Vice President Mike Pence said on February 18 that the United States would "hold Russia accountable" for its interference in Ukraine.

 

 During his campaign, Trump voiced admiration for Putin and suggested he might scrap sanctions imposed on Moscow over its actions in Ukraine.

Based on reporting by The Moscow Times and Reuters</s>The U.S Embassy in Kyiv has said Russia’s decision to temporarily recognize documents issued by Moscow-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine is incompatible with the Minsk process on regulating the conflict.

The embassy posted on Twitter on February 19 that the decision was “alarming and incompatible with the agreed-on goals of the Minsk peace process.”

The embassy also urged Russia and the separatists to remove heavy weaponry from the line of contact in order to ensure a sustainable cease-fire.

On February 18, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed an order authorizing the recognition of documents issued by the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic and the Luhansk People’s Republic, entities created in the areas of Ukraine controlled by Russia-back separatists.

The same day, the foreign ministers of Russia, Ukraine, Germany, and France met in Munich and agreed to a new cease-fire in eastern Ukraine to begin on February 20.

With reporting by AFP, Reuters, and Interfax</s>European powers are backing a new ceasefire agreement announced Saturday for embattled eastern Ukraine, where Ukrainian forces and Russian-backed separatists have been locked in conflict for three years.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said the deal, set to begin Monday, was settled with input from his German and French counterparts, and comes after two other internationally-brokered ceasefires have fizzled in a region where the fighting has only raised tensions between Russia and the West.

"On Feb. 20, the ceasefire regime will start, and withdrawal of heavy military hardware will also start to the places where they are supposed to be," Lavrov said Saturday after the talks at the Munich Security Conference in Germany, which was attended by various world leaders.

"We have actively supported this decision and obviously expressed a conviction that this time, failure should not be allowed to take place," he said.

It was unclear whose "military hardware" Lavrov was talking about — Ukraine's or that belonging to the Russian-backed separatists — and what territory they would be moved to, as the Russian and Ukrainian governments dispute the territorial lines.

Related: Ukraine Fears That Putin Will 'Step Forward' if Trump Pulls Back

While the specifics of the deal remain murky, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin told reporters minutes before Lavrov's statement that he was "not at all" pleased with the conclusion of Saturday's meeting, Reuters reported.

He added that the so-called Normandy Format — which consists of Russia, Ukraine, Germany and France — formed no "powerful results."

In a separate event in Munich, German Chancellor Angela Merkel spoke about the long conflict in Ukraine and lamented that the Minsk Protocol — brokered in September 2014 to halt the armed conflict in the Donbass region — had not been followed by the Russian-backed separatists.

The agreement aimed to end fighting in the disputed area of Ukraine.

"The Minsk agreement is the only channel we have to bring a solution to this conflict," Merkel said. "The Minsk agreement started on the assumption that there was a road map, but when it was enacted there was no continuous ceasefire."

NATO allies laid the consequences of the conflicts at the feet of Russia, which has claimed no responsibility for the separatist activities, although it annexed Crimea from Ukraine in March 2014. Most nations, including European Union members and the United States, do not recognize Crimea as a part of the Russian state.

A Ukrainian hacker group named Cyber Hunta also published a gigabyte's worth of emails from the office of one of Russian President Vladimir Putin's top aides that shows conclusive evidence that Russia was actively engaged in supporting the separatist movement in Ukraine.

Since then, European nations have grown increasingly alarmed by Russia's use of force along its western border.

"We have seen a more assertive Russia," NATO Secretary General Jens Soltenberg told CNBC at the Munich Security Conference. "We have seen a Russia that has invested heavily in new military capabilities, which has tripled spending on defense over the last years, and — most importantly — which has been willing to use military force against neighbors in Georgia and Ukraine. And that's exactly why NATO is responding in a measured defensive way."

Stoltenberg said NATO will invest in defense upgrades for any new conflicts, whether that's on the ground or in cyberspace.

"We have to be agile. We have to be prepared for the unforeseen," he added. "And that's exactly what we are doing when we are increasing the readiness of our forces, when we are increasing the presence of our forces in the eastern part of the alliance — and we are."

President Donald Trump has flip-flopped on his support for NATO. After the November election, he told the Times of London that the 28-state alliance is obsolete, but then earlier this month said "we strongly support NATO." Meanwhile, he has refused to criticize Russia, recently stating that the United States is morally equivalent to Putin.
At the Munich Security Conference, a truce between Russian-backed separatists and the Ukrainian army, per the Minsk Protocol, takes effect Monday. Pending a permanent political agreement, Russian President Vladimir Putin orders that civil registration documents issued in separatist-held areas of Donetsk and Luhansk in eastern Ukraine be temporarily recognized. Ukrainian authorities say this violates provisions in the Minsk agreement. This is the third such agreement because the previous two in 2014 and 2015 were violated. Low-level fighting and artillery fire never fully stopped.