LUGANSK, September 20. /TASS/. Participants in the security subgroup of the Trilateral Contact Group on the settlement of the Ukrainian crisis have agreed the text of a framework agreement on disengagement of forces in Donbass, Vladislav Deinego, the chief negotiator for the self-proclaimed Lugansk People’s Republic (LPR), said on Tuesday.
"The text of the framework agreement has been completely agreed, including the first three areas of disengagement," LuganskInformCenter quoted him as saying.
Following long talks "the Ukrainian side has finally agreed with the OSCE-initiated compromise editions of the text of the framework agreement the LPR and DPR (the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic) approved back in August," he said.
"Apart from that, the parties have agreed the OSCE-initiated disengagement of forces and weapons at three sections. It was initiated by the OSCE representative, Ambassador Ertugul Apakan at the meeting on September 7 and was approved by the representatives of the self-proclaimed republics on the same day," Deinego said.
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He expressed the hope that Ukraine’s representatives in other working subgroups will demonstrate constructive approach at the forthcoming meeting.
The next meeting of the Contact Group will be held on September 21 in the Belarusian capital city Minsk. During his recent visit to Kiev last week, German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said he hoped this time the parties would be able to agree further pullout of troops in a number of pilot areas.
The Trilateral Contact Group on Ukraine comprising senior representatives from Russia, Ukraine and the European security watchdog OSCE on February 12, 2015, signed a 13-point Package of Measures to fulfil the September 2014 Minsk agreements. The package was agreed with the leaders of the Normandy Four, namely Russia, Germany, France and Ukraine.
The Package of Measures, known as Minsk-2, envisaged a ceasefire between Ukrainian government forces and people’s militias in the self-proclaimed republics in Donetsk and Lugansk starting from February 15 and subsequent withdrawal of heavy weapons from the line of engagement. The deal also laid out a roadmap for a lasting settlement in Ukraine, including local elections and constitutional reform to give more autonomy to the war-torn eastern regions. To spur up the work of the Contact Group, four working subgroups were set up within it on four key aspects of the Minsk agreements, namely on issues of security; on political issues; on issues of prisoner exchange and refuges; and on social, humanitarian and economic aspects.