MINSK, Belarus - The leadership of the self-proclaimed Luhansk people's republic (LPR) reaffirms its willingness to maintain dialogue with Kyiv concerning a peaceful settlement of the conflict in southeastern Ukraine using the Minsk contact group format.
“We will make every possible effort so that another round of a contact group [meeting] should take place by the end of the year. Such a meeting will not take place today, as it is practically impossible to physically assemble and arrive in Minsk in such a short time, but I do not rule out the possibility of such a meeting, for instance, tomorrow or the day after tomorrow. We are ready and expect an appropriate reaction from Kyiv,” LPR envoy at the talks in Minsk Vladyslav Deineho told Interfax, adding that the contact group could hold a Skype conference on Dec. 27.
“However, ideally, such a video conference would be not enough, and a personal meeting is necessary,” Deineho said.
The self-proclaimed Luhansk and Donetsk republics have drawn up two
draft documents based on the outcomes of a Dec. 24 meeting.
“The first one is a draft protocol of the Minsk meeting and the
second is a draft unilateral statement that each party should make
concerning the observance of the peace agreements reached earlier. We
have already forwarded the draft of this document to the OSCE,” he said.
Deineho declined to elaborate on the essence of the documents.
The LPR does not object to former President Leonid Kuchma’s
participation in the Minsk talks as a Kyiv representative. “We are
satisfied with Kuchma’s figure at this stage. It’s necessary to think
not about individuals but about how to overcome the deadlock in any
possible way,” he said.
