LPR urges Kiev to make Donbass talks public - Kobtseva

Lugansk People’s Republic representative in the Contact Group humanitarian subgroup, head of the LPR working group on POW exchange Olga Kobtseva urged Ukraine to make the Donbass talks open to the public.

“Mr Gryzlov (Russian representative in the Contact Group on settling the situation in Ukraine) and Mr (deputy head of the Russian presidential administration Dmitry) Kozak repeatedly called for making the negotiating process public,” Kobtseva said at a press briefing at the Lugansk Media Centre. “We are ready for this move. In that case, residents of all Ukraine would see who conducts dialogue with whom, who talks to whom, who comes to terms and what these terms are. At present, it is advantageous to Ukraine to manipulate these notions,” the LPR representative said.

She urged Ukrainian representatives to make the recordings of negotiations available to residents of the country.

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

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