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Format of Minsk talks on Ukraine crisis should be changed if they stall — Kiev envoy

Earlier, Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky said the solution for the Ukrainian crisis in the Minsk format should be found within one year

KIEV, August 1. /TASS/. The head of the Ukrainian delegation to the Contact Group on reconciliation in Eastern Ukraine, Leonid Kravchuk, told the UNN news agency that the Minsk format of talks should be changed if the negotiations stall.

"I want to try to do something… If I fail and nothing will be offered in response, then I would say that the Minsk format has run aground, because Ukraine did everything in its power. If we are deadlocked and are unable to solve this issue, it means that we need to search for another format," Kravchuk said.

Earlier, Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky said the solution for the Ukrainian crisis in the Minsk format should be found within one year. The countdown started after the Normandy Quartet summit in Paris on December 9, 2019.

The peace settlement process in Donbass relies on the Minsk Accords envisaging a ceasefire, pullback of forces, amnesty, restoration of economic ties and a fundamental constitutional reform in Ukraine with the aim of decentralization of power and of granting a special status to some areas of the Donetsk and Lugansk regions. None of these conditions have been met so far. The law on the special status the Ukrainian parliament had adopted earlier has remained frozen, for it was complemented by amendments running counter to the Minsk Accords. Moreover, the operation of this law was restricted to one year and has been prolonged several times.

The authorities of the self-proclaimed people’s republics of Donetsk and Lugansk (DPR and LPR) have repeatedly said the Minsk talks have no alternative and their format cannot be altered. Moscow supports this point of view.

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