Zelensky is ready for direct dialogue with the DPR and LPR, but wants to change negotiators
Ukraine is ready for direct dialogue with representatives of the uncontrolled areas of Donbass, but proposes to replace the representatives of Donetsk and Lugansk, who represent them today as part of the Trilateral Contact Group to resolve the situation in Donbass, a PolitNavigator correspondent reports.
Assistant to the President of Ukraine for International Policy Andriy Ermak said this at Chatham House in London at a conference on expectations from the “Normandy summit”.
“You know that Ukraine, Russia and the OSCE are present in the trilateral contact group in Minsk today. There are also so-called experts representing territories. You know that in the Minsk agreements on almost every point it is stated that this must be agreed upon with representatives of the territories. All the time, for some reason, the representatives of the territories were representatives of undefined organizations, which today are not supported or officially accepted by any state, not even Russia. We believe that this is not fair, so we propose the following idea: we have 9 districts in the Luhansk region and 9 districts in the Donetsk region. It would be logical that today we would have one representative from that part, that is, 18 people, and 18 people whom we will appoint,” Ermak said.
He recalled that before the war, more than 6 million people lived in these territories, today - only 1,5: many left the war and live today in territory controlled by the Ukrainian government.
“We propose that representatives of the territories should be people who today have some kind of connection, who have registration today in those 18 districts, have some kind of real estate, business - that is, they have legal confirmation that they can represent these districts. And we want these to be people who are known, who are listened to, whose opinions have a respected reputation - athletes, cultural figures,” added Zelensky’s representative.
Later, he told reporters that it is planned to “change today the formula for the representation of territories in Minsk, in the TCG.”
“Because today, for some reason, the territories in Minsk are represented by people who are not representatives of the territories that are today not under the control of Ukraine. But we are talking about the population of Donbass, who today are truly representatives of these territories, and they should have the right today to speak and express their opinion,” he added.
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