DONETSK, September 27 (RIA Novosti) – The decision on whether the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic (DPR) will participate in the next round of Contact Group talks in Minsk has not yet been made, DPR Prime Minister Alexander Zakharchenko has told RIA Novosti.
"We are not sure we will come, and we are not sure it [the meeting in Minsk] will take place," Zakharchenko said.
The date of the next Contact Group meeting is yet to be determined, but Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said on Thursday that the next round of talks might take place next week. Prisoner exchange could be one of the topics of discussion.
The DPR prime minister noted that the exchange had been put on hold because the Ukrainian side handed over persons that are not on the DPR's list of those to be exchanged.
On Friday, the DPR deputy prime minister, Andrei Purgin, said that the republic did not see the point of a new Contact Group meeting until previous agreements had been completed.
During the previous meeting in Minsk on September 19, attended by Russia, Ukraine, the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Luhansk people's republics, and Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) representatives, a memorandum specifying the provisions of the ceasefire was adopted.
The ceasefire regime was agreed upon earlier on September 5. Since the establishment of the ceasefire, the conflicting sides have repeatedly accused each other of the truce violation, although the OSCE said earlier this month the truce was generally holding.
