On March 25, a video conference was held by the participants in the Humanitarian Subgroup of the Contact Group on the settlement of the conflict in Donbas. Unfortunately, the meeting was almost disrupted by the Ukrainian side due to the failure to comply with the decisions made at the Contact Group meeting of March 11, 2020.
Representatives of Ukraine, instead of confirming the detained persons, provided us with a list of wanted persons, missing persons, as well as persons released from prison. In addition, the Ukrainian side tried to distort the format of the future exchange, seriously violating the previously agreed formula.
Despite the aforementioned, the DPR insists on an early exchange in connection with the difficult epidemiological situation in the world. For this reason, on March 26, during the meeting, we put forward an exchange proposal based on the formula “10 for 8”. The Ukrainian side has strongly rejected our proposal.
It seems that official Kiev intentionally sabotages any actions aimed at preparing the future exchanges, misinterpreting the previously adopted agreements. Such steps do not bring us closer to peace, nor do they bring detainees closer to their families.
I want to emphasize once again that the DPR insists on an exchange according to the proposed formula and expects particular actions from official Kiev. In addition, it is worth noting that the procedural clearance was not carried out in relation to the participants in the exchange of December 29, 2019. Such an irresponsible attitude by the Ukrainian side to its obligations causes serious concerns and doubts about the Kiev’s willingness to fulfil the agreements.
