Ukrainian plenipotentiaries do not participate at all in Minsk negotiations. The Ukrainian side has two negotiators – Mrs. Gerashchenko and Mr. Medvedchuk. Mr. Medvedchuk has not attended Minsk negotiations for about a year already. Mrs. Gerashchenko was there two or three times. Some authorized persons are delegated to attend the meetings. They have a small paper with them containing 5-6 lines of text; they read it out and say “this is our position, we are not authorized for decision-making”. It is only when official negotiators come that it is possible to negotiate, to find some kind of consensus. It is possible to defend your position, to convince our opponents.
And these people say: We have been authorized to read out the specific directive; we cannot discuss anything else. We still urge the Ukrainian side to participate duly in the Minsk talks and to send plenipotentiaries who would make decisions, negotiate, move forward to consensus, find a certain compromise and then our subgroup will operate at its full capacity.
