Putin, Hollande, Merkel, Poroshenko hold telephone talks over Ukraine ‘peace plan’

World June 25, 2014, 21:18

Russian President Vladimir Putin called for extending the ceasefire in Eastern Ukraine

KIEV, June 25. /ITAR-TASS/. Presidents Vladimir Putin of Russia, Francois Hollande of France and Petro Poroshenko of Ukraine, as well as Germany’s Federal Chancellor Angela Merkel have held telephone talks, in the course of which they discussed promotion of Poroshenko’s peace plan for peace settlement in the east of the country, the Ukrainian presidential press service said Wednesday.

Poroshenko informed his interlocutors on the alleged “serious violations that sprang up during implementation of the Ukrainian President’s plan for unilateral ceasefire.”

He said in part that 52 encroachments on the ceasefire regime on the part of “terrorists” — the way that Kiev authorities refer to supporters of federalization in the East of the country — had been registered since June 20.

A total of eighteen people died and another twenty-seven people were wounded, Poroshenko said.

He also said that the implementation of the peace plan and control over the entire perimeter of the Ukrainian-Russian border are possible on the condition of presence there of the observers delegated by the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), including Russian experts.

Poroshenko welcomed a decision of the upper house of Russian parliament, the Federation Council, to revoke permission to the Russian President to use the Armed Forces on the territory of Ukraine as “an encouraging signal on the way to implementing the peace plan.”

Along with it, he said Kiev “is awaiting practical steps on Russia’s part to facilitate a further stabilization in the Donbass area (the way that Eastern Ukraine is typically referred to in Ukraine and Russia. — ITAR-TASS).”

Merkel proposed a range of joint steps upon the completion of the conversation. They are to ensure a system of monitoring with elements of control during the ceasefire (in what concerns checkpoints and border crossing stations) by OSCE observers, the corps of which should include Russian experts.

In addition, they presuppose continuation of the talks with the trilateral contact groups June 26.

Merkel proposed to vest the functions of a mediator for assuring the work of the contact group in the notable politician Viktor Medvedchuk, the chairman of the Ukrainian Choice public association.

Poroshenko supported Merkel’s proposal.

The trilateral contact group includes the former Ukrainian President, Leonid Kuchma, the Russian Ambassador in Kiev, Mikhail Zurabov, and the special envoy of the OSCE Chairman-in-Office, Heidi Tagliavini.

After a substantial exchange of views on the Ukraine crisis, the sides stressed it was necessary to preserve the truce and create conditions for proper control over the ceasefire regime, the Kremlin press service reports.

The Kremlin also urged the conflicting parties to release all the people being held in captivity. “Putin spoke in favor of extending the ceasefire and starting stable negotiations,” the Kremlin press service said, adding that the Russian Federation Council decision to recall its March 1, 2014 resolution on the use of the Russian Armed Forces in Ukraine was expected to contribute to the de-escalation.

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