Considering yesterday’s meeting of the security subgroup, members of the Contact Group noted some progress, but the most heated discussion was about the AFU’s violations of the Additional Measures for the Enhancement and Control of the Effective Ceasefire Regime, in particular the first three clauses, DPR Plenipotentiary Representative and Minister of Foreign Affairs Natalya Nikonorova said on September 2, summarizing the work of the subgroups.
“Despite the undeniable facts and evidence that the armed groups of Ukraine systematically violate in particular the first and third clauses of the Additional Measures, which is confirmed by daily reports of the OSCE SMM, the Ukrainian side would rather make up excuses to convince all members of the Contact Group and the world community that those were certainly no violations.
Unfortunately, the OSCE has not yet made public the results of its monitoring of the situation in the area of Shumy, which we asked about just before and at the previous meeting of the Contact Group. However, the head of the OSCE SMM, Mr. Çevik, informed all the members that this data had already been collected and would soon be made public in one of the Mission’s daily reports after appropriate technical completion.
At the same time, he emphasized that the parties must respond to mutual claims for violations without waiting for SMM OSCE reports, and we fully agree with the position of Ambassador Çevik. That is, the Mission’s report is not a necessary condition to conduct investigation and take appropriate response measures to rectify the violations that we discuss.
In this regard, we once again reminded of the position of the Head of the Republic and called on the Ukrainian side to act rationally and responsibly to rectify and minimize all its violations, including positional violations near the Petrovskoye-Bogdanovka disengagement area and near Shumy as soon as possible, so we will not have to resort to appropriate extreme measures provided for by the ceasefire control agreements and outlined by the Head of the Republic.
At the same time, we emphasize that we have fully complied with the action protocol provided for by the Additional Measures, repeatedly used the coordination mechanism, repeatedly notified the OSCE SMM and called on the Ukrainian side to rectify its violations, and today we notify all the members of the Contact Group that we will have to carry out the instruction of the Head of the Republic in the event that Ukraine fails to rectify its violations. In this regard, we shall send an additional notice to avoid any possible casualties,” Natalya Nikonorova told about the progress in the talks.
Also, when Kiev officials address the issue regarding the fourth clause of the Verkhovna Rada Decree On the Scheduled Local Elections in 2020, which contradicts the Minsk Agreements, it will be possible to implement the documents related to demining operations and the withdrawal of forces and weapons, which, in fact, are ready to be signed.
At the moment, the humanitarian subgroup has something to work on as well. Two exchanges, which were carried out on December 29, 2019 and April 16, 2020, have not yet been procedurally completed: so far we have not received from Ukraine confirming documents that these people have fully finished all necessary procedural issues to fully restore the violated rights and freedoms.
“We have once again reminded of the fact that this process should take place under the agreements previously reached, signed personally by Mr. Kuchma. And also expressed the hope that the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine will settle the issue with the decree in the near future, which will allow carrying out another exchange within the framework of the Minsk Agreements in effect,” Nikonorova noted.
The meeting of the Contact Group has ended; the next meeting is scheduled for September 16.
