Kiev didn’t answer if it is ready to wall itself off from Donbass - LPR Foreign Ministry
Ukrainian representatives in the Contact Group did not answer the question if Kiev was ready to build a wall to shut itself off from Donbass, which Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky earlier stated, Lugansk People’s Republic Foreign Minister, LPR representative at the Minsk talks Vladislav Deinego said.
Earlier, Zelensky told a Ukrainian television channel that if the Donbass conflict was not settled in the “Normandy format,” Ukraine would hold a national referendum which might result in complete severance of Ukraine’s relations with the Donbass Republics.
Deinego said that “the nature of the Ukrainian delegation’s moves at this round of talks obviously showed complete reluctance to have dialogue with Donbass over peaceful settlement of the conflict.”
“One gets a firm impression that the delegation’s actions are aimed at justifying Zelensky’s proposal to hold a referendum and fence off from Donbass,” he said.
“The question was asked directly twice: Is the Ukrainian delegation trying to build up pretexts and reasons to make a decision on a wall separating Donbass from Ukraine?” However the Ukrainian delegation left the question unanswered, preferring not to refute our suspicions,” Deinego said.
He added that the Contact Group round of talks had ended on that alarming note, with the looming threat of the construction of the Zelensky wall.”
The Ukrainian government launched the so-called anti-terrorist operation against Donbass in April 2014. Conflict settlement relies on the Package of Measures for the Implementation of the Minsk Agreements, signed on February 12, 2015 in the Belarussian capital by the Contact Group members and coordinated by the Normandy Four heads of states (Russia, Germany, France and Ukraine). The UN Security Council approved the document by Resolution No 2202 of February 17, 2015 and called upon the parties to ensure its implementation.
The document provides for comprehensive ceasefire, withdrawal of all heavy weapons from the contact line, starting a dialog on reconstruction of social and economic ties between Kiev and Donbass. It also envisages carrying out constitutional reform in Ukraine providing for decentralization and adopting permanent legislation on a special status of certain areas of the Donetsk and Lugansk regions.
To facilitate the work of the Contact Group, four working groups were set up under its aegis to deal with issues of security, politics, return of internally displaced people and refuges, as well as with social, humanitarian, economic and rehabilitation issues. *i.*s
