MOSCOW, August 7. /TASS/. At a meeting of the Contact Group on settlement of the situation in Ukraine, Kiev demanded a stage-by-stage withdrawal of weapons of calibre under 100mm, which is unacceptable for the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics (DPR and LPR), DPR’s envoy to the Contact Group talks Denis Pushilin told the Donetsk News Agency on Friday.
"The key task we had was to agree on simultaneous withdrawal of the weapons of calibre under 100mm from the entire front line," he said. "This decision could be a major step towards a complete ceasefire."
Kiev "insisted the weapons should be withdrawn step-by-step," he said. "And the weapons from the front line’s parts, from where the Ukrainian side continues shelling of Donetsk and Gorlovka, they wanted to withdraw in the very end, naming the time frame of over two months. This is absolutely unacceptable for us."
On August 3, Minsk hosted meetings of the Contact Group and its sub-groups. The work continued to late night, but the parties could not reach a most expected solution — to initial the text of an agreement on a gradual withdrawal of tanks, armored vehicles and weapons of calibre under 100mm from the front line. Thus, the sub-group on security, which is supervising the topic, continued the meeting all the following day, though with no result.
LPR’s envoy Vladislav Deinego said at the coming meeting of the Contact Group due on August 26, the sub-group will present two versions of the document on withdrawal of the weapons. One version will outline the disputable provisions on the version agreed by the Contact Group. And the second variant will fix Ukraine’s position "as it refuses the agreed variant."