Russia's concerns about the Minsk agreements being ignored was the precursor to Moscow launching what it calls a special military operation in Ukraine, Russian news agencies quoted Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov as saying on Sunday.
President Vladimir Putin this week bemoaned the failure to implement the Minsk agreements - ceasefire and constitutional reform deals between Kyiv and Russian-backed separatist forces in eastern Ukraine brokered in 2014 and 2015 by Russia, France and Germany, at the outset of the conflict with Ukraine.