LUGANSK, October 26. /TASS/. Members of the political subgroup of the Contact Group on the settlement in eastern Ukraine have begun their meeting in Minsk, during which they are planning the discuss the implementation of the "Steinmeier formula," envoy of the self-proclaimed Lugansk People’s Republic (LPR) at the talks, Vladislav Deynego, said on Wednesday.
"A meeting of members of the working subgroup on political issues has begun in Minsk. The main issue on the agenda will be the implementation of the Steinmeier formula," Deynego said.
In January, the German foreign minister put forward a mechanism for settling the Donbass conflict later dubbed "the Steinmeier formula." Germany’s top diplomat proposed to temporarily introduce a law on special local governance in specific areas of the Donetsk and Lugansk regions on the election day and bring it into effect permanently after the OSCE report on the elections is published.
At the summit held in Berlin on October 19, the Normandy Quartet leaders agreed that a road map on the implementation of the Minsk accords should be hammered out by the end of November.
Security subgroup
Members of the security subgroup of the Contact Group on the settlement in eastern Ukraine have begun consultations in the Belarusian capital, Minsk, envoy of the self-proclaimed Lugansk People’s Republic (LPR) at the talks, Vladislav Deynego, said on Wednesday.
"Members of the working security subgroup have begun work in Minsk," the Luganskinformtsentr news agency quotes him as saying.
This is the first Contact Group’s meeting after the Normandy Four summit in Berlin, during which the Russian, German, Ukrainian and French leaders agreed to draw up a roadmap for the implementation of the Minsk agreements. The parties are expected to discuss the list of areas for the next disengagement of forces. According to a source at the talks, the participants in the meeting are also to analyze the reasons for the failure to disengage forces near Stanitsa Luganskaya.
DPR officials reported last week that the meeting of the humanitarian subgroup had been postponed until November 9.
Economic subgroup disrupted
Ukraine’s representatives once again derailed the meeting of the economic subgroup of the Contact Group on the settlement in eastern Ukraine on Wednesday, Vladislav Deynego said.
"The meeting of the economic subgroup has been derailed once again. Ukraine continues to manipulate the issues of the republics’ representation in the Minsk Contact Group bodies," the Luganskinformtsentr news agency quotes him as saying.
The previous meetings of the subgroup that were to be held on September 21 and October 5 were not held either. Denis Pushilin, the envoy of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR), noted at that time that Kiev "disrupted the work of the economic subgroup refusing to carry on a dialogue with the Donbass representative, Chief of Staff of the DPR head, Maxim Leschenko." According to Pushilin, "Kiev’s alleged criminal case against Leschenko on aiding and abetting terrorism served as a pretext.