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Kiev undermines Contact Group talks in a bid to take Donbass back by force — statement

According to Maria Zakharova, the Contact Group remains blocked "precisely because of the unwillingness of the Ukrainian side" to release the captured Lugansk People’s Republic Joint Ceasefire Coordination and Control Center (JCCC) observer Andrey Kosyak

MOSCOW, October 28. /TASS/. Ukraine is deliberately blocking work in the Contact Group in order to take Donbass back by force, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said Thursday.

"We get an impression that Kiev is deliberately driving the Contact Group talks into a dead end, in order to free its hands to take Donbass back via military means," the diplomat pointed out.

According to the spokeswoman, the Contact Group remains blocked "precisely because of the unwillingness of the Ukrainian side" to release the captured Lugansk People’s Republic (LPR) Joint Ceasefire Coordination and Control Center (JCCC) observer Andrey Kosyak.

"Despite all official statements, Kiev still has not bothered to provide Russian consular workers with access to this citizen, who has, mind you, Russian citizenship," Zakharova noted, adding that Russian diplomatic missions in Ukraine continue to fight for a meeting with the detained observer.

On October 13, a Ukrainian sabotage group captured Kosyak inside the disengagement zone, while he carried out operations, negotiated with Kiev. LPR head Leonid Pasechnik stated that further dialogue with Kiev appears to be pointless until the observer is released, and called the capture a precedent that not only violates international law but also the agreements, achieved previously within the Minsk process. Russian envoy to the Contact Group stated that OSCE’s passiveness in this situation is bewildering.

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