Today, due to the fault of Ukraine, another round of talks of the humanitarian subgroup was disrupted. From the very beginning of the conference, the representative of Kiev adhered to an absolutely non-diplomatic course and violated modalities for negotiations that were established. In response to comments on this matter, she made a number of openly insulting theses against the Republics and the Russian Federation, which is a mediator in the Minsk process. And after that, she unilaterally left the negotiations, thereby sabotaging the discussion of key issues of the humanitarian cluster. Among them, the exchange of prisoners, the procedural “cleansing” of participants of previous exchanges and the search for missing persons.
Such defiance of the Ukrainian delegate is unacceptable. Especially in a situation where the other members of the subgroup are making every possible effort to finally break the impasse in the negotiation process that Kiev created.
Such antics look especially cynical against the background of the aggravation of the situation on the Contact line. After all, if Ukraine is really interested in a peaceful settlement of the conflict, now, logically, it is necessary to make the most of the negotiating instruments. At the very least, Kiev should have included representatives who have the time and desire to work in its delegation. Based on the current situation, only one conclusion suggests itself: either there are no experts of the proper level in Ukraine, or the Ukrainian leadership is purposefully blocking the Minsk process.
For my part, I informed the coordinator of the subgroup from the OSCE about the deteriorating situation on the Contact line, in particular, about the shelling of the AFU of the settlement of Elenovka. There is only a check-point on the border of the DPR with Ukraine that is operating during the pandemic. Since February 23, Ukraine has been systematically opening fire on this territory, endangering the civilian population. In this regard, I demanded to ensure the regime of silence during the days of humanitarian corridors and to table this topic for discussion by the Contact Group.
