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Developments in eastern Ukraine

Luhansk republic envoy says Contact Group can hold videoconference today

The Skype conference was expected this morning after the Berlin meeting of the Normandy quartet foreign ministers

Vladislav Deinego Valery Matytsin/TASS

Vladislav Deinego

© Valery Matytsin/TASS

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Contact Group on Ukraine can meet within days — Ukrainian Foreign Ministry

LUHANSK, January 13. /TASS/. The self-proclaimed Luhansk People’s Republic plenipotentiary envoy, Vladislav Deinego, said on Tuesday he did not rule out that the Contact Group participants could hold a videoconference within the day to discuss preparations for the regular round of the talks in Minsk.

“The date and the time of the videoconference have not been strictly determined. But we've expected the Skype conference this morning just after the Berlin meeting of [the Normandy quartet foreign ministers],” Deinego said.

“But the Kiev officials have not contacted us. Ukraine may be unprepared to continue talks and it may be resolving some preliminary issues,” he said.

On January 12, after the talks in Berlin the Normandy quartet (Germany, Russia, France and Ukraine) said the Contact Group on Ukraine was planning to meet shortly.

“The ministers urged the Contact Group to meet within days in order to achieve progress and make it possible the full implementation of the Minsk agreements, including the creation of relevant conditions for an effective ceasefire,” the Normandy quartet said in a joint statement.

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Eastern Ukraine

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