A uniform approach to the Ukrainian conflict settlement has yet to be developed at negotiations in the Trilateral Contact Group on Ukraine, Ukrainian representative to the Group, former President Leonid Kuchma has said.
“To our deep regret, there are no points of contact to which both sides would agree on now. Because the standpoint of the Ukrainian side is well-known: Ukrainian laws, the pullback of all armed units and heavy weapons, media access to those territories, etc,” Kuchma’s press secretary Darya Olifer has quoted him to Interfax as saying.
According to the former president, the illegal detention of people will be a separate item on the agenda of the final meeting of the Trilateral Contact Group on Tuesday. “Because there are still too many of them and this is a tragedy for the families, the people who are being held captive. So, we will listen to both sides,” he said.
The meeting will cover practically every matter, such as security, control over the arms withdrawal, and reports of the OSCE SMM and the Joint Center for Control and Coordination. “There will be also political problems, one of the most difficult because this is the question of prospective elections [in Donbas territory],” Kuchma said.
As a rule, four subgroups addressing political affairs, security, humanitarian and socioeconomic issues converge before Contact Group sittings.
A source in the group organizing negotiations told Interfax that members of the Contact Group on Ukraine would meet in Minsk on Tuesday to continue the discussion of the terms of local elections in individual districts of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions, and access of international humanitarian aid to those territories.
“On the whole, the agenda is unchanged. The sides will continue to search for compromises regarding the terms of local elections in individual districts of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions. The most disputable items are the terms of media activity and principles of the nomination and participation of candidates,” the source said.
“The humanitarian subgroup will once again discuss conditions according to which humanitarian aid of international organizations can be delivered to individual districts. The prisoner swap item also remains on the agenda,” he said.
