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Kiev continues its ‘rough imitation’ of talks on ceasefire in Donbass — Russian envoy

The contact group continued its discussions on Thursday to address Donbass initiatives, but the Ukrainian side was putting forward "absolutely absurd proposals," Gryzlov said

MOSCOW, December 10. /TASS/. During the emergency meeting of the Contact Group on eastern Ukrainian reconciliation, the Kiev delegation demonstrated only a ‘rough imitation’ of efforts to strengthen the ceasefire, Russia’s permanent representative to the Contact Group, Boris Gryzlov, said.

"After the pause, requested by Ukraine yesterday to study meaningful proposals by Donetsk and Lugansk and to prepare a reciprocal document, the Ukrainian delegation has once again demonstrated its incompetence. Kiev’s representatives continued a rough imitation of negotiations, persistently dodging all attempts to coordinate with Donetsk and Lugansk any of practical decisions concerning present-day ceasefire observation challenges," he said.

The contact group continued its discussions on Thursday to address Donbass initiatives, but the Ukrainian side was putting forward "absolutely absurd proposals," Gryzlov said.

"Kiev put forward a draft statement, containing absolutely absurd proposals," he said. "A clear example of it was the Ukrainian delegation’s initiative to reform the Joint Center for Control and Coordination by the end of the day, by including Germany and France. Despite the Donbass delegation’s reasoning, Ukrainian representatives insisted on this ludicrous proposal, demonstrating total disregard for the lives of their citizens on both sides of the line of contact."

"Under those circumstances, Donetsk, Lugansk and the OSCE considered it impossible to continue negotiations," Gryzlov continued. "We understand the decision."

 

Donetsk’s opinion

A similar position was voiced by the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR), whose foreign ministry said Kiev failed to fulfill their promises and put forward absurd proposals.

"To our deep regrets, the emergency meeting of the Contact Group produced absolutely no result," the ministry said in its Telegram channel. "Ukraine failed to fulfill any of the promises they made yesterday."

"We became absolutely convinced that their plans <…> were in no way related to ‘effective maintenance of ceasefire.’ Their only interest was the fact of an emergency meeting itself, so that they had something to report to their western bosses, to inform them about attempts to ‘negotiate peace.’"

According to the ministry, the Ukrainian delegation put forward a draft statement containing "nothing but absurd, stillborn proposals and vague wording."

The Contact Group meeting on Wednesday continued for eight hours. Following the talks, Russian plenipotentiary representative of in the Contact Group on Ukraine Boris Gryzlov reported that Kiev has asked for a day to respond to proposals on the ceasefire put forward by Donbass. Among the proposals made on December 2 by the representatives of the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics, were the disavowal of Kiev’s statements about the procedure for opening fire at its own decision as well as the use of drones in Donbass.

Since July 27, 2020, additional measures to control the ceasefire have been in effect in Donbass. Under the agreement, the Donbass conflicting parties are banned from carrying out offensive and reconnaissance operations, using any type of aircraft, opening fire and deploying heavy weapons in populated localities. However, despite the agreements, the Donbass conflict started to aggravate in late February. Intense clashes have resumed on the line of contact, causing deaths and casualties on both sides. On October 13, the situation was exacerbated again after Kiev’s forces captured the representative of the LPR office to the Joint Centre for Control and Coordination.