Contact Group expects to sign agreement in Minsk today

Saturday, January 31, 2015 - 10:35 (EET) Section: Latest news

Trilateral Contact Group expects to sign a document, which will include a list of specific steps aimed at de-escalation of the situation in Donbas, in Minsk on January 31.
The corresponding document was developed by the Special Representative of the Chairperson-in-Office of the OSCE, Ambassador Heidi Tagliavini, representative of Ukraine Leonid Kuchma, and representative of the Russian Federation, Ambassador of the Russian Federation to Ukraine, Mikhail Zurabov, according to a statement posted on the OSCE website on Friday, January 30.
The document reads that the members have agreed that the following practical outcome must be achieved during the next talks in Minsk: “a binding agreement on the immediate ceasefire and withdrawal of heavy weapons from the contact line, as agreed in the Minsk Memorandum on 19 September 2014, unrestricted supply of basic goods and humanitarian assistance to the affected areas in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions, as well as tangible progress in the release of detainees.”
The document also reads that “the Trilateral Contact Group is ready to depart for Minsk on Saturday, January 31, in order to have another round of consultations and finalize the agreed arrangements with the signatories of the Minsk Protocol and Minsk Memorandum of 5 and 9 September 2014.”
Moreover, the statement says that “the document which may be signed tomorrow includes a list of concrete steps designed to provide for the implementation of these priority tasks aimed at de-escalating the situation.”
As reported, representatives of the so-called LPR (Luhansk People’s Republic) and DPR (Donetsk People’s Republic) said during the talks on January 30, that they leave Minsk and go to Moscow. Herewith, the separatists have accused the Ukrainian side in the breakdown of the talks.