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OSCE envoy sends invitations for Contact Group talks in Minsk — Russian diplomat

Earlier on Thursday, the self-proclaimed Luhansk people’s republic’s envoy, Vladislav Deinego, said the next round of the Contact Group talks in Minsk could take place until the end of this week

Special representative of the OSCE chairperson-in-office to the Trilateral Contact Group, Heidi Tagliavini AP Photo

Special representative of the OSCE chairperson-in-office to the Trilateral Contact Group, Heidi Tagliavini

VIENNA, January 22. /TASS/. The special representative of the OSCE chairperson-in-office to the Trilateral Contact Group, Heidi Tagliavini, has sent invitations to all the parties for another round of Minsk talks, Russia’s OSCE (Organozation for Security and Cooperation in Europe) envoy Andrey Kelin said on Thursday.

Read also

Minsk says ready for Contact Group talks in any format

“This was announced at the session of the Permanent Council,” Kelin told journalists. The Russian diplomat gave no details on the date of the proposed negotiations.

Earlier on Thursday, the self-proclaimed Luhansk people’s republic’s envoy, Vladislav Deinego, said the next round of the Contact Group talks in Minsk could take place until the end of this week.

“I hope that after this Normandy Quartet meeting (in Berlin on January 21) real steps will be also planned for the coming two or three days,” the official Luhansk Inform Center news agency quoted Deinego as saying.

Meanwhile, a source close to the OSCE Secretariat told TASS earlier in the day that the Contact Group meeting in the Minsk format is unlikely to be held this week.

The Contact Group is the only format where the opposing sides in the Ukrainian conflict are working directly together on all matters to achieve peaceful settlement. It also involves Russia and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE).

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Ukraine crisis OSCE Eastern Ukraine Andrey Kelin

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