Today, the meeting of the Humanitarian Subgroup of the Contact Group on the settlement of the conflict in Donbas began with a consideration of the issue on the opening the checkpoints on the Contact Line. The false information that all checkpoints in Donbas will start working on 10 November, which was disseminated by the press service of the Combined Force of Ukraine, caused a wide response and demanded additional clarification.
During the negotiations, I once again informed the participants that today the crossing of the State border of the DPR with Ukraine is carried out only through the checkpoint “Elenovka”. It works twice a week, i.e. on Mondays and Fridays. In this case, the crossing rules remain unchanged. To leave the DPR, it is necessary to have a registration (propiska) in the territory that is under control of Ukraine or the permission of the Interagency operational headquarters for preventing delivering and spreading new coronavirus infection caused by COVID-19. Entry to the DPR is carried out only according to the list by the Headquarters. The rest of the checkpoints located on the border of the Donetsk People’s Republic and Ukraine are closed, that is one of the measures to maintain a stable epidemiological situation in the Republic.
It is difficult to say for what reason Kiev disseminated false information on such a socially significant issue. This can be either the result of the unprofessionalism of the performers, or another provocation. Nevertheless, I call on the Ukrainian side to comply with the current format of the crossing the Contact Line and to prevent the unilateral opening of the border, since such a step poses a direct threat to the security of the population.
Also, during the negotiations, the topic of the procedural “cleansing” of persons displaced to the territory of the DPR in the course of the exchanges of 2019-2020 was considered. Unfortunately, no progress has been made. Ukraine still does not provide us with information that would show that they are doing the necessary work in this direction.
It should be remembered that out of the total number of citizens displaced to the territory of the DPR during the exchanges of 2019-2020, today only one person has procedural “cleansing”. In relation to the rest, criminal prosecution continues.
I want to note that, for its part, the DPR has fulfilled all its obligations. The further course of events directly depends on the actions of the Ukrainian side. Kiev must adhere to the agreements and complete the previous exchanges. Only after that, we will be able to move on to discussing and agreeing on a new procedure.
