Donetsk, Jan 18 – DAN. Kiev said it would announce soon its position on renewal of pensions payments in Donbass following the ICRC mechanism, the DPR Foreign Ministry said after the meeting of the Contact Group in Minsk on January 17.

"The Ukrainian side at the meeting said again that it is ready to make public its position on the ICRC-proposed mechanism of pensions payments to disables people."

During the meeting, Alan Eshliman, Director of the International Committee of the Red Cross Office in Ukraine, said that there are no contradictions in the current Ukrainian law to impede the renewal of pension payments.

According to the DPR Foreign Ministry, during the last Contact Group meeting in 2018, the Ukrainian side initiated a meaningless dialog blocking the discussion of pension payments renewal. After the meeting Kiev said the ICRC-proposed option was incompatible with the Ukrainian law.

Earlier the ICRC said the organization can act as a mediator under its mandate to facilitate pension payments in Donbass. Kiev said it was not against this initiative. *ot