MOSCOW, April 8./TASS/. Russia favors full transparency of the Minsk talks and the publication of relevant documents, Deputy Chief of Staff of the Presidential Executive Office Dmitry Kozak said at a meeting with experts from the Institute of World Economy and International Relations.
"Ukraine is terrified of its inconsistency being revealed. They are afraid to speak publicly," Kozak revealed. "We have offered transparency and live airtime, so that everybody could see what is going on. Let us release the printed documents to the public," he said.
Kozak reiterated that last summer he came up with an offer to organize a live stream of the talks. "In order to clarify to everyone who is making what proposals and what sort of proposals, as well as their stance. Let us also make the printed documents public," he insisted.
"Everybody went so far off the rails that calls from the heads of state and government stated that this was impossible and that the talks should be hush-hush. Well, there is no secrecy here," Kozak stressed.
According to him, it is primarily Ukraine that wants to veil the negotiations in secrecy, while Germany and France follow in Kiev’s footsteps. "This confidentiality is an illusion, it’s conditional. We tried to comply with it too, but it is one-sided, Ukraine is the only one that needs it so as to dominate the information space and pursue its own policy. This is the only thing they engage in - deceiving their citizens," Kozak stressed.
He reiterated that Ukrainian media quotes those politicians who are currently engaged in the talks on Donbass as calling the Minsk agreement ‘a noose around Ukraine’s neck’ that prevents any settlement. "Zelensky says ‘I would have quit the Minsk agreements but they are needed to sustain the sanctions against Russia’. While at the talks we hear ‘We are committed to the Minsk agreements from A to Z," the Kremlin’s deputy chief of staff said.
The Minsk Package of Measures (Minsk-2), signed by the participants of the Contact Group on February 12, 2015 and approved by the UN Security Council resolution, is the basis for the settlement of the Donbass conflict.
The 13-point document envisages a ceasefire between Ukrainian government forces and the people’s militias of the self-proclaimed republics in Donetsk and Lugansk and the subsequent withdrawal of heavy weapons from the line of engagement. The deal also lays out a roadmap for a lasting settlement in Ukraine, including amnesty, the resumption of economic ties, local elections and constitutional reform to give more autonomy to the war-torn eastern regions.