MOSCOW, December 20 (Sputnik) — Kiev authorities are sabotaging the upcoming negotiations in Minsk and do not wish to discuss peace settlement with the militia in eastern Ukraine, head of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) Alexander Zakharchenko said Saturday.
A new meeting of the so-called Contact Group on Ukraine, comprising representatives of the Donetsk and Luhansk people’s republics, Kiev authorities and the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), was initially scheduled for December 21.
According to the DPR head, it is now unknown when Minsk negotiations will continue.
Meanwhile, the self-proclaimed republic’s negotiator at the peace settlements, Denis Pushilin, stated that “all questions remain open” on the details around a new round of talks.
“None of the parties, including the OSCE, have contacted me since yesterday’s video conference,” Pushilin added.
DPR, LPR, Kiev and OSCE representatives held a Skype conference on Friday to prepare for further negotiations in Minsk.
For months, a violent conflict has raged in eastern Ukraine as Kiev-led forces have fought the Donbas independence supporters. In the beginning of December, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko announced that a “silence regime” would begin on in the conflict-torn region on December 9 in a bid to renew peace negotiations.
The conflicting sides reached a ceasefire agreement during a September 5 meeting of the Contact Group and signed a memorandum specifying the implementation of the ceasefire on September 19, but have subsequently accused each other of breaking the truce.
