Resumption of payments and the exchange of prisoners were discussed in Minsk

13:45 / 02 Jun. 2016 / 657

Martin Saydik OSCE Special Representative said that participants in the negotiations in the framework of the Contact Group on June 1 in Minsk were not able to make significant progress on the issue of exchange of prisoners in the Donbass.

“Today in the subgroups discussed the issue of exchange of prisoners, but I can not talk about any shifts in this issue”, – he said.

Saydik also said that security subgroup trilateral Contact Group on Ukraine worked on specific issues dilution forces on the contact line in the Donbas.

“The participants expressed their willingness to continue this discussion at the next meeting”, – said OSCE special representative.

In addition, he noted that a tripartite group in the Donbas discussed the frequent ceasefire violations at the Donbass reported by OSCE monitoring mission.

“In this regard, I would say that is particularly concerned by the violations of the cease-fire, which led to the military and civilian victims, and the recent deliberate violations against unarmed personnel and assets of the OSCE SMM”, – he told reporters.

Saydik also demanded “to identify and bring to justice all those involved in these violations,” and drew attention to the fact that any restriction of the freedom of movement of the CMM constitutes a violation of the Mission’s mandate and set of measures.

“Reaffirms its commitment to providing immediate and unrestricted access to the entire territory of the SMM Donetsk and Lugansk regions,” – said the OSCE Special Representative.

OSCE Special Representative also informed that the sub-group on political issues discussed in Minsk modality ORDLO elections, and the subgroup for Economic Affairs discussed the restructuring of the railway infrastructure in the east of Ukraine.

“You may remember that the Ukrainian Railways has decided to restore full operation of the Donetsk railway. However, the process ran into opposition in the territory of certain areas of the Donetsk region. Currently, the negotiation process is of crucial importance for cooperation in ORDLO “, – said OSCE special envoy

According to him, the negotiations among economic subgroups were also the restoration of water, electricity in the Donbas and questions of the retirement benefits.

Saydik noted that the trilateral contact group to resolve the situation in the Donbass not yet discussed the issue of the introduction to the region armed police mission, but in the case of issuance of the issue for discussion is ready to hold discussions.

Responding to the clarification question will be whether to submit it to the discussion, the OSCE Special Representative said: “If the question is raised, then we will discuss it.”

Earlier in the Administration of President of Ukraine said that the Russian Federation has agreed to the deployment of armed OSCE mission in Donbass.

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