In the course of the November 10 sitting of the Contact group Ukrainian negotiators refused to answer all questions from Republic’s representatives concerning numerous cynical violations of the ceasefire regime, as well as provocative statements in the media, the press office of the DPR MFA reports.
“For the past month, violations of peace agreements by the armed formations of Ukraine are characterized by unprecedented cynicism. It is the abduction of the observer of LPR Representation in the JCCC Andrey Kosiak, occupation of Staromarievka with the subsequent terror of local residents, positioning by official Kiev of the use of UAVs prohibited by the Minsk agreements as a norm, injuries due to AFU shelling of Republic’s civilians, including children.
We tried to get know for what purpose the Ukrainian authorities deliberately escalate, and not only with real actions, but also with militaristic statements, fake videos and other PR actions to aggravate the situation both on the contact line and in the negotiations. But, traditionally, the Ukrainian delegates could not voice any intelligible answer.
We also asked the OSCE coordinators when he will take such an obvious and necessary step, as a clear and objective assessment of all the numerous violations of the Minsk Package documents by the Ukrainian party. In addition, we were extremely surprised by the priorities of the OSCE SMM demonstrated today by Mr. Cevik, since, as the Mission head, he devoted only 7 minutes of his report to ceasefire violations and spent 37 minutes talking about obstacles to the observers work. The OSCE SMM mandate states that the main goal of the Mission is to reduce tension and ensure peace, stability and security, as well as monitor and support all OSCE principles and commitments. Nevertheless, lately we have not seen any efforts of the Mission to fulfill the goals outlined in its mandate,” the DPR Plenipotentiary stated.
Thus, the real diplomatic process is now in the grip of Ukraine’s destructive behavior and the passive approach of the OSCE mediator. On the one hand, Kiev clearly and transparently demonstrates its intention to return to the «hot» phase of the conflict and resume an active military confrontation, and on the other hand, the OSCE’s position on numerous violations of the Minsk agreements by Ukraine is becoming more formal. This is an extremely alarming situation that radically exacerbates an already catastrophic crisis in negotiations.
According to the DPR MFA