Donetsk, Apr 18 – DAN. Kiev's representatives at the Contact Group have refused the ICRC-proposed assistance in pension payments to Donbass residents, said DPR envoy to the negotiations Denis Pushilin’s press secretary Viktoria Talakina.
"DPR initiated a proposal to request international organizations' assistance in paying pensions. The ICRC responded and suggested that payments to pensioners with impaired mobility should be taken as a basis. Ukrainian side was very predictable saying delegation of pension payments authority to a third party is impossible."
Talakina said that all suggestions concerning opening of mobile banks on the contact line, relaunching of State Savings Bank of Ukraine, or Oschadbank, offices in some towns, opening banks offices at checkpoints were handled with negligence on the Ukrainian side, in a 'just for show' way.
Earlier the International Committee of the Red Cross said it was ready to broker pension payment to Donbass residents within the framework of its humanitarian mandate. The head of the so-called "military-civilian administration of Donetsk region" Pavel Zhebrivskyi said Ukrainian authorities would not mind if the ICRC assumed payment responsibility. *ot