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DPR and LPR turn down Kiev’s proposal on extraordinary meeting of Contact Group

The two foreign ministers noted that the Ukrainian side first creates tension and then advances "peace initiatives"

DONETSK/LUGANSK, February 18. /TASS/. The self-proclaimed Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics (DPR and LPR) have turned down Kiev’s proposal to organize an extraordinary meeting of the Contact Group on the settlement in Donbass as senseless as it is not backed by real initiatives and is rather a part of Ukraine’s PR campaign, DPR and LPR Foreign Ministers, Natalia Nikonorova and Vladislav Deinego, said on Friday.

"Ukrainian mass media and media supporting the Kiev regime keep on releasing ‘loud’ reports about our alleged aggression and its consequences, this way whipping up information hysteria. In this environment, Kiev comes out with an initiative of an urgent Contact Group meeting and a meeting of the working group on security. Traditionally, this initiative is not backed by any concrete practical measures to stop shelling. <…> So, we think it absolutely senseless to support the West-fanned Ukrainian militarist PR campaign. If you want peace and tranquility, stop shooting!" Nikonorova said in a statement.

Deinego, in turn, stressed that the Ukrainian side "continues to create provoking situations along the contact line and demands a meeting of an extraordinary meeting of the working group on security just in order to hype itself." "In conditions of Kiev’s unpreparedness to work substantively, an extraordinary meeting of the security subgroup has no practical sense. <…> We are ready for any constructive work on concrete settlement aspects but we will not support Ukraine’s PR campaign to organize another empty meeting geared only to throw dust in the eye of the world community," he stressed.

The two foreign ministers noted that the Ukrainian side first creates tension and then advances "peace initiatives."

The Ukrainian delegation to the Contact Group on the settlement of the situation in eastern Ukraine said on Thursday that it had turned to the OSCE representative demanding an extraordinary Contact Group meeting be called. The Ukrainian side vowed it is ready for talks "to stop violations and restore the ceasefire," after which it will be possible to continue negotiating humanitarian, social and political issues.

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