Partakers in the quadripartite negotiations held in Geneva on Thursday believe that Kyiv should immediately launch a broad national dialogue in the context of the constitutional reform, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov stated.
“The statement we have adopted today contains a provision, which
urges the immediate start of a broad national dialogue in the context of
the constitutional reform so that all regions be able to convey their
wishes,” Lavrov said upon the end of the quadripartite meeting.
“These wishes are already being expressed, and the ball is in the
court of the Kyiv authorities which are supposed to provide an
inclusive, transparent and responsible constitutional process,” he
noted.
Lavrov said he had handed over to the European and U.S. partners the
documents Russia had obtained from representatives of southeastern
Ukraine, including the Party of Regions, the Luhansk Regional Council
and the new movement, Southeast.
“These documents give a rather detailed account of the opinion of
people from the southern and eastern [Ukraine] about the way the new
constitution should address the interests of regions,” the minister
continued.
“Yet
representatives of the opposition, primarily from the south and the
east, were not invited here for organizational reasons,” the minister
said, adding that Russia had presented the aforesaid documents.
