Kiev rep turns off camera not to discuss Road Map - Miroshnik

Ukrainian delegation representative in the Contact Group subgroup on political issues Andrey Kostin turned off his camera at the Tuesday video conference in order not to discuss the conflict settlement Road Map version brought forward by the Donbass Republics, Lugansk People’s Republic representative in the subgroup Rodion Miroshnik said on his Telegram channel.

“Kostin turned off his video conferencing camera so that he’s not suspected of discussing the LPR and DPR’s document,” Miroshnik said. “The Ukrainian delegation only has the right to formally show its participation in the Minsk process without reaching any accords.”

“The condition is so strict that Kostin even had to hide in the end in order not to be suspected of breaching his instruction,” the LPR representative said.

“The Road Map has been a subject of discussion in the subgroup for a year. It has to spell out the mutual steps toward a peaceful settlement in accordance with the Minsk Agreements, and after coordination at the Contact Group it has to be approved by the Rada (Ukrainian parliament) and the LPR and DPR parliaments,” he said.

“Since this step can cement the official responsibility of the Ukrainian parliament for the fulfilment of the Minsk Agreements, the Ukrainian delegation was instructed to not even approach the discussion of the document. How can they accomplish it if it is a task set by the Contact Group? It’s simple: they just turn off the camera,” Miroshnik said.

The position of (Ukrainian President Vladimir) Zelensky and his appointees has degraded from the statement “to come to terms with anyone for the sake of peace” to the attempts to run away from dialogue by switching off the videoconferencing camera,” he said.

Coordinator (of the working group on political issues for the OSCE) Sylvie Bermann has to give an opinion on Ukraine’s position tomorrow. Today, everything was clear. Tomorrow we’ll find out how the situation will be rethought ahead of her report,” the LPR representative said.

Earlier, Miroshnik said that the Kiev representatives in the Contact Group imitated their negotiability without any real wish to reach accords.

In early October 2020, LPR and DPR representatives submitted a Road Map for consideration by the Contact Group. It was a step-by-step plan for comprehensive peaceful settlements in Donbass based on the Minsk Agreements. Following numerous attempts to avoid the work on the document, Kiev brought forward its own “Plan of Joint Steps” in early November. The Ukrainian proposals had not been coordinated in the Contact Group and reflected Kiev’s position which contradicted the Minsk Agreements.

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*t

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