The Ukrainian side once again showed its unwillingness to carry out Minsk Agreements and its disinterest in the negotiation process. A Kiev representative violated the rules of the meeting – she arrived much later than the scheduled time. Moreover, the meeting of the Humanitarian Subgroup was totally disrupted due to her inappropriate and provocative behaviour and because she had left the meeting without any reasons.
We only managed to discuss one of the issues of the agenda – Declaration on the condemnation of all forms of torture, ill-treatment, sexual violence and threats of violence against persons detained in connection with the conflict.
We pledge the commitment of the Republic to Minsk Agreements, namely to carrying out the prisoner exchange under the formula “all confirmed for all confirmed”. As regards the issue of the search for missing persons, there is no hindrance from our side, as well. Moreover, we insist on the resolution of both issues, as well as on the transfer of individuals convicted before the conflict. 19 persons, who wished to continue to serve their prison sentence in the territory of Ukraine, have long been ready for the procedure. However, at this stage, the transfer of convicts is impossible due to the fault of the Ukrainian side.
We expressed our position to Mr. Frisch as regards the negotiations procedure in the Humanitarian Subgroup. Since all the meetings where only one representative of Ukraine participated had been unproductive, we consider it necessary that all plenipotentiary representatives be present at the negotiations. If the purpose is to arrive at practical solutions, then we insist that the Ukrainian side be fully represented at the meetings of the Humanitarian Subgroup.
