DONETSK, November 13. /TASS/. Officials of self-proclaimed Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics are ready to go to Minsk shortly and to take part in a meeting of the Contact Group for Ukraine, Denis Pushilin, the envoy of the DPR at the peace settlement talks in Minsk said on Thursday.

“The pause in the activities of the Minsk group has obviously become too long and we don’t understand why Kiev is procrastinating with the dates and agenda of the meeting,” Pushilin said. “There’s a feeling Kiev is striving to bring the Minsk process to a full stalemate, in the conditions of which it would sever direct contacts with our republics.”

“Any attempts to settle the conflict without our republics won’t hold water and will inevitably drive the negotiations into a deadlock,” Pushilin said. He confirmed the republics’ commitment to the Minsk format, which presupposes the participation of Russia, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, the DPR, the LPR, and Ukraine.

Both republics have appointed their authorized representatives and the positions they voice will have binding force.

“We insist that the Minsk Group should gather immediately and the OSCE, Ukraine and Russia should be invited,” Pushilin said adding that the powers of the authorized representatives had been confirmed by legal acts bearing the signatures of the republics’ Prime Ministers.

“All the decisions under which these representatives put their signatures will have binding force and will be mandatory for all the civilian agencies of power and the Armed Forces of the two republics,” he said.