Kobtseva: Kiev lies about opening all checkpoints in Donbass

Kiev is lying about opening all checkpoints in Donbass, said LPR representative in the Humanitarian Working Group of the Contact Group Olga Kobtseva.

The HQ of the so-called JFO announced earlier that all the Ukrainian checkpoints in Donbass are open, and the traffic is blocked by the Republics.

"Ukrainian announcement of opening all checkpoints does not deserve credence," she said.

"Ukraine blocks agreement on absolutely all issues within the framework of the talks. The agreement on simultaneous opening of the Lugansk-Schastye and Pervomaisk-Zolotoye checkpoints is not an exception."

These crossing points are not operational because Ukraine failed to provide indefinite ceasefire guarantees."

Kobtseva said that SMM reports show that the area of checkpoints has become "an active territory where Ukraine violates ceasefire".

LPR representatives repeatedly said that Kiev lied about confirming the security guarantees for opening the new checkpoints. Ukraine deliberately refuses to provide round-the-clock security guarantees in the area of the Pervomaisk-Zolotoye checkpoint and sabotages the opening of the new crossing points in the Schastye and Zolotoye areas. LPR representative to the Minsk talks, the Republic’s Foreign Minister Vladislav Deinego said that Ukraine cannot provide answers to the questions regarding the opening of the new checkpoints, so the decision on simultaneous opening of “Lugansk-Schastye” and “Pervomaisk-Zolotoye” would be postponed until Ukraine had provided written confirmation of the earlier accords.

In March 2020, the LPR and Kiev agreed to set up two new crossing points on the contact line in the Schastye and Zolotoye areas; the works on the facilities were launched in July. Having failed to coordinate the key points of the crossing points’ operation, including security issues, Ukraine unilaterally opened them on November 10. The Republic called the move a provocation and a threat to the persons who cross the contact line and demanded that Kiev begin a dialogue to resolve the problems and launch full-fledged operation of the crossing points.

Currently there is only one official checkpoint on contact line in the LPR area of responsibility in Donbass and it is accessible via the bridge across the Seversky Donets in the vicinity of Stanitsa Luganskaya.

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. *t*s