Kyiv hopes for assistance of Putin in securing the truce in the Donbass
KIEV, may 31 — RIA Novosti. Kiev has offered in the negotiations in the “Norman format” in Berlin at the level of Deputy foreign Ministers to declare in the Donbass once the silence and insisted first of all on the ceasefire, the participants heard the reports of the groups of the contact group on settling the situation in the region, said the head of the Ukrainian delegation, first Deputy foreign Minister of Ukraine Vadim Pristayko.
Working meeting in the “Norman format” on Ukraine at the level of Deputy foreign Ministers and political Directors was held on Tuesday. From the Russian side it was attended by the state Secretary, Deputy foreign Minister Grigory Karasin, with the German state Secretary of the foreign Ministry Markus Ederer and political Director Andreas Michaelis, the French Minister for European Affairs at the foreign Ministry Mariel de Sarnez, Ukrainian — Pristayko.
“There was a proposal of the Ukrainian side to announce the next mode of silence, but to ask or demand from the Russian side to the President (Vladimir) Putin personally insisted. We think he’ll listen,” said Pristayko following the talks, his words are quoted by the Ukrainian Agency “UKRINFORM”.
The Deputy Minister noted that the Ukrainian side in the negotiations, first of all, insisted on a cease-fire. “This is our principled position”, — he said, while acknowledging that the French and German partners sometimes try “to push Ukraine to implement some things that are not on the first places in the list of tasks”.
According to the diplomat, the main task of the meeting on may 30 in Berlin was to hear reports on the activities of the four working groups of the Donbas, their leaders, as well as OSCE special representative for Ukraine (the head of the contact group) Sajdik also took part in the negotiations.
Pristayko noted that the meeting in Berlin, the parties tried to find a solution to the issues that are “stuck” working group in Minsk. “We discussed all the problems and tried them (groups) to find a path where ends the competence of the OSCE. This is the main purpose of our mechanism,” he said.
The diplomat believes that the real is now likely to count on progress to painful for all the question of exchange of prisoners. Pristayko recalled that Ukraine was the verification of the prisons. According to him, this was some mistrust, but now in Kiev believe that “this work will remove all the past obstacles to exchange “all for all”.