Interfax: Contact Group to review compliance with Minsk deal – Luhansk People’s Republic negotiator

Map of Ukraine, Including Crimea, and Neighbors, Including Russia

(Interfax – Luhansk, Ukraine, March 13, 2015)

The Contact Group on Ukraine will chiefly focus on the first tree points of the Package of Measures for the Implementation of the Minsk Agreements in reviewing compliance with the agreements during a planned videoconference, the chief negotiator of the self-proclaimed Luhansk People’s Republic said.

However, the group may also get down to other points of the package during the conference, the Luhansk Information Center cited Vladislav Deinego as saying.

“The main point for us is not to get stuck on individual positions but to move forward because the situation needs, moreover, the resolution of all other problems that are indicated in the Package of Measures,” Deinego said.

“On some of them, the critical date is coming near. March 14 is the date before which the Verkhovna Rada [Ukrainian parliament] is due to pass a resolution listing [future self-ruled] territories. There is a decision by the [Ukrainian] National Security and Defense Council, but it doesn’t contain a list of such territories. As far as I’m aware, the Verkhovna Rada is on vacation at the moment. It’s unclear if they’ll call an emergency session today or tomorrow. Just as it’s unclear to me whether there is any draft resolution on this subject in the Verkhovna Rada,” the negotiator said.

He said one issue to be raised during the videoconference was a proposal to set up working subgroups within the Contact Group.

“It’s been a long time since we came up with a proposal for setting up subgroups in the format of the trilateral Contact Group to handle tasks that are set in the Package of Measures. We already put forward our proposals on this matter before the end of February,” Deinego said.

“I very much hope that the dialogue that has begun will result in a possibility to monitor the process of implementation of the Package of Measures,” he said.

 

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