Daria Morozova comments on negotiation process in Minsk, DNR-Online

Comments and statements of the Ombudsman Events Media News

At the last meeting of the Humanitarian Subgroup in Minsk, it was impossible to agree on any of the issues of the agenda, DPR Human Rights Ombudsman Daria Morozova told in an interview to the official website of the DPR.

“There were several issues on the agenda of the Humanitarian Subgroup: first – exchange of “all confirmed for all confirmed”, second – missing persons, third – signing declaration against torture and sexual violence. All of these issues have been discussed, but no result has been achieved. As for the exchange, at the moment there are 101 persons confirmed in the territory of Ukraine, including 16 citizens of the Russian Federation, who were meant to be exchanged on the 27 December 2017. The Ukrainian side had unilaterally removed them from the exchange list. They referred to their legislation, which was not the case. It can be said that the current situation is a result of a political “progress” of Ms Gerashchenko, as she made a unilateral decision to remove the Russian citizens from the list. Now they use it as leverage, claiming that they are willing to exchange those people with the Russian Federation. However, our conflict is internal, and such exchanges cannot be discussed at Minsk negotiations. In doing so, they block the exchange process,” said the Ombudsman.

According to Morozova, the Ukrainian side provided a list of 33 persons, whom they are ready to exchange, although this format contradicts the formula “all confirmed for all confirmed” and the Minsk agreement itself. DPR sees this position of Kiev as aimed at delaying the exchange.

“Poroshenko’s team remains the same until the elections, and so negotiators in Minsk who are trying to disrupt the negotiation process. And I don’t know whether the policy will change when Mr. Poroshenko will leave the post or be re-elected. Nevertheless, the election campaign, of course, affects the Minsk process,” Ms. Morozova said.