Disengagement of forces and means of the parties of the armed conflict in Donbass will provide conditions for the elections in Donbass - security. It was stated by US Ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch in an interview with Radio Svoboda.
According to her, security should be stable.
"Our position is clear: at first, you need to have security to hold elections. How else can you hold them, if there are no security guarantees? As we see, the agreements on ceasefire, which should have been valid for two years, are not fulfilled. The last agreement with respect to the ceasefire are also violated. Therefore, it is important that the security is stable," - she explained.
She noted that the withdrawal of forces on the boundary line in Donbass is one of the first steps.
"To this end, in particular, it is necessary to build confidence. In this context it is worth recalling the agreement on withdrawal forces and means on three areas of the contact line. I know that it is a very contentious issue in Ukraine, but if you have the opportunity to withdraw forces from each other, the less chances they will have to face in combat actions. It is one of the first steps, in my view, both for the population and for the whole of the political process -. to provide security," - said Marie Yovanovitch.
As previously reported,on September 21st, 2016 the participants of the Tripartite Liaison Group in Minsk signed an agreement on dilution of forces and means in three settlements on the demarcation line – Petrovskoye, Zolotoye and Stanitsa Luhanskaya.