At yesterday’s meeting of the Contact Group, the Ukrainian side avoided discussing key issues of the political settlement, DPR Plenipotentiary Representative and Minister of Foreign Affairs Natalya Nikonorova said on September 2.
“Kiev representatives are avoiding discussing the issue of the Verkhovna Rada decree that sets scheduled local elections, which contradicts the Complex of Measures. We do not understand how it can be implemented if the Ukrainian parliament crosses out all the agreements with its decrees.
Instead of working substantively on the implementation of the Minsk Agreements and bringing their decrees in line with them, parliamentarians demand to exclude from the negotiation process Vitold Fokin, who is the only member of the delegation who has declared his readiness to compromise and negotiate directly with the republics. This approach clearly demonstrates Kiev’s unpreparedness to resolve the conflict. In this regard, we reiterate that until the Ukrainian parliament determines its stance on the Minsk Agreements in their entirety, discussion of all other issues is destined for failure. The Complex of Measures is not a set of options that the parties may pick at their own discretion,” Nikonorova stressed.
She also noted that the Ukrainian party is fully responsible for disabling the further implementation of the Complex of Measures. The coordinator of the political subgroup expressed concern that the dialogue in the Contact Group risked being at an impasse. Whether we get a positive trend in the negotiation process depends on further actions of the Kiev authorities.
