All peace initiatives of the Ukrainian party in the Trilateral Contact Group were rejected by the Russian Federation under far-fetched pretexts, - the press service of the Ukrainian delegation to the TCG reported on Facebook on December 9.
It is noted that meetings of the TCG working subgroups were held on December 7, during which the Ukrainian party voiced three key initiatives: return to a sustainable ceasefire by ensuring the implementation of measures to strengthen the ceasefire of July 22, 2020; opening of the checkpoints in Shchastia and Zolote, which has been opened on the Ukrainian side since November 2020; mutual exchange of detainees, which would make it possible to release about 60 people in the near future.
"These issues were discussed at the regular meeting of the TCG on December 8, 2021. Unfortunately, all the initiatives of the Ukrainian party were rejected by the Russian Federation under far-fetched pretexts", - the TCG states.
Ukraine proposed at an extraordinary meeting of the TCG yesterday, on December 9, to expand the composition of the Joint Centre of Control and Coordination not only by the signatories of the Package of Measures for the Implementation of the Minsk Agreements, but also by the authorized representatives of the Normandy format member states (by their consent) as an independent party, in order to ensure a sustainable ceasefire, as well as for the implementation of paragraph 3 of the Package of Measures for the Implementation of the Minsk Agreements, which provides for effective monitoring and verification of the ceasefire.
This proposal was also categorically rejected by the Russian Federation.
"The proposal of Ukraine with an appeal to the participants in the consultations to make counter statements on returning to the ceasefire from 00.01 on December 10, 2021 and the commitment to measures to strengthen the ceasefire on July 22, 2020 was also rejected by the Russian Federation", - the statement says.
The TCG emphasizes that Ukraine remains committed to the need to ensure a sustainable ceasefire and is ready to continue work on this within the TCG and other formats.