Negotiations, especially those concerning the political settlement, are impossible if one of the parties is sabotaging the consideration of key issues on the agenda, the DPR delegation to the Contact Group stated.
“At the meeting of the group on political issues, the Ukrainian delegation, instead of working constructively on the draft Roadmap for resolving the conflict in Donbass in accordance with the Minsk Agreements, was interested in questions about “how many windows are connected to the working group’s meeting”. The Ukrainian representative attempted in every way to exclude public representatives of the Republic from participating in the meeting, but his aspirations were not supported by the OSCE Coordinator.
Throughout the entire process of negotiation within the working group on political issues, Ukrainian negotiators demanded a draft Roadmap from the Russian Federation, which is not a party to the conflict. At the same time, they continue to ignore the draft of the Republic sent to them back in early October last year, a month before their draft.
In response to such demands from Mr. Kostin to the Russian delegation, our representatives had to repeatedly emphasize that the discussion of the draft Roadmap should take place with the participation of representatives of the DPR and the LPR and not with the Russian Federation, which according to the Complex of Measures on the Implementation of the Minsk Agreements is not a party to the conflict.
Kiev’s reluctance to express its commitment to implementing this document has taken the form of a desire to discuss issues unrelated to the current agenda to the detriment of the instructions of the Contact Group.
Once again we call on Ukraine to familiarize itself with the draft Roadmap provided by the Republic. We also emphasize that the effectiveness of negotiations depends directly on dialogue between the parties to the conflict, namely Ukraine and Donbass. Endless attempts to ignore the Republic and make demands to the mediator representing Russia will not lead to any constructive result and will only prolong and complicate the already difficult negotiation process,” representatives of the DPR delegation to the Contact Group stressed.
