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Active steps for Kiev-Donbass stable talks extremely important after polls — diplomat

It is needed to take all efforts to bring Kiev and these regions closer and to establish economic cooperation, Russia's Ambassador to the OSCE Andrey Kelin said

MOSCOW, November 4. /TASS/. This is extremely important to take active steps to launch stable talks between central Ukrainian authorities and Donbass representatives in line with the Minsk peace deals over the November 2 elections in south-east Ukraine, Russian Ambassador to the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) Andrey Kelin said at a meeting of the OSCE Permanent Council over Russia’s contribution to the work of the Special Monitoring Mission and the situation in Ukraine. The text of his statement was posted on the website of the Russian Foreign Ministry on Tuesday.

“The November 2 elections in Donetsk and Luhansk regions passed in an organized way, generally speaking, and with a high voter turnout,” the diplomat noted. “We take the will expression of residents in the country’s south-east with respect. Elected representatives received a mandate to settle practical tasks to restore normal life in the regions,” he added.

“With due account of these elections this is extremely important to take active steps to launch stable talks between central Ukrainian authorities and Donbass representatives in line with the Minsk peace deals,” Kelin said. “We are ready together with our international partners to promote settlement of the critical situation in Ukraine constructively.”

“It is needed to take all efforts to bring Kiev and these regions closer and to establish economic cooperation,” the Russian permanent representative in the OSCE said. “Still the situation in Donbass is close to a humanitarian catastrophe and functioning of local authorities should be ensured somehow to fulfil social liabilities to people and to care for daily needs of civilians,” Kelin noted.

“We hope that these elections will become a serious step on the way to launch a truly inclusive national dialogue and an economic revival in south-east Ukraine,” the diplomat noted.