Donetsk Stance on Prisoner Swap, Easing Economic Blockade Remains Unchanged

© Sputnik / Egor Eryomov / Go to the mediabankLeft: former Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma. From right: Andrei Purgin, deputy prime minister of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic; Alexander Zakharchenko, prime minister of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic; Mikhail Zurabov, Russian ambassador in Ukraine. Sixth left: Heidi Tagliavini, representative of the OSCE chairperson-in-office on Ukraine. A meeting of the Contact Group on Ukrainian reconciliation in Minsk, Belarus.
Left: former Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma. From right: Andrei Purgin, deputy prime minister of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic; Alexander Zakharchenko, prime minister of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic; Mikhail Zurabov, Russian ambassador in Ukraine. Sixth left: Heidi Tagliavini, representative of the OSCE chairperson-in-office on Ukraine. A meeting of the Contact Group on Ukrainian reconciliation in Minsk, Belarus. - Sputnik International
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The upcoming Contact Group's meeting's agenda includes the topics of prisoner swaps between Kiev and the two eastern Ukrainian self-proclaimed republics, a gradual lifting of economic blockade by Kiev on Donbas Region, as well as Kiev giving eastern Ukraine a “special status.”

Denis Pushilin, leader of the insurgent Donetsk People's Republic - Sputnik International
Minsk Group to Hold Skype Conference on Ukraine Friday: Donetsk Official
DONETSK, December 19 (Sputnik) – The eastern Ukrainian self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) will not bend its stance in regard to exchanging prisoners with Kiev and the removal of the economic blockade against eastern Ukraine, an official from the DPR said Friday.

“Donetsk has not changed its position in the negotiations and the DPR’s agenda will remain the same,” the Donetsk News Agency quoted Denis Pushilin as saying.

A new round of talks of the so-called Contact Group on the Ukraine reconciliation, comprising representatives of Kiev, independence supporters, Moscow and the Organization for Security and Co-operation (OSCE), is scheduled to take place in Minsk on December 21. However, Pushilin noted that the meeting in Minsk should be rescheduled for December 22 or 23.

Didier Burkhalter, Chairperson-in-Office of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), called Saturday on all sides of the Ukrainian conflict to resume efforts to settle the crisis in the country by adhering to the Minsk agreements. - Sputnik International
OSCE Urges Resumption of Efforts to Adhere to Minsk Agreements
The upcoming meeting's agenda includes the topics of prisoner swaps between Kiev and the two eastern republics, a gradual lifting of the economic blockade by Kiev on the eastern regions, as well as Kiev giving eastern Ukraine a "special status", Pushilin noted.

On December 17, the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Luhansk People's Republics announced they were ready to exchange prisoners, but Kiev's representatives did not respect their side of the deal agreed upon by the Contact Group negotiating the settlement of the Ukrainian crisis in Minsk in September.

In mid-November, Poroshenko signed a decree imposing an economic blockade on eastern Ukraine and withdrawing all state-funded health, educational and social protection organizations from the Donbas region.

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