Interfax: Moscow dismisses Ukrainian official’s idea for new format for talks

(Interfax – Moscow, January 11, 2016)

The statements by a representative of Ukraine in the political sub-group of the Tripartite Contact Group, Roman Bezsmertnyy, regarding the launch of a new Minsk 3 process from 1 January appears incompetent, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mariya Zakharova announced.

“The statement by a representative of Ukraine in the political subgroup about the launch from 1 January of some new process called Minsk 3 appears incompetent, even illiterate,” Zakharova told journalists on Monday [11 January].

“There is a package of documents adopted a year ago during the summit of the Normandy four in Minsk. Adhering to them rigorously is the main task facing all the sides involved in the settlement process,” she added.

According to Zakharova, “inventing new formats, about which the Ukrainian representative spoke, is, of course, an engaging process but has no meaning without fulfilling the obligation already taken upon oneself”.

“This kind of loose handling and personal interpretation of the content of the agreements signed by the presidents of four countries, and this is exactly how one could describe the statement by the Kiev representative, only hinders the settlement process,” Zakharova concluded.