Donetsk, Nov 7 - DAN. The extraordinary Contact Group video conference over the disengagement of forces and hardware in Petrovskoye will not take place on November 8, Donetsk People’s Republic Foreign Minister, the Republic’s envoy to the Minsk talks Natalia Nikonorova said on Thursday.
“We have not received Kiev’s official answer regarding the holding of an extraordinary Contact Group video conference requested by us; we only received a response from the coordinator, Ambassador Martin Sajdik who suggested postponing it to November 8, so we contacted the coordinator to learn about Ukraine’s position on this issue,” Nikonorova said in a statement received by the Donetsk News Agency. “Regrettably, Mr Sajdik said that the Contact Group would not have an extraordinary meeting. We do not know the reasons behind it.”
The DPR sent a written message and its proposal to hold extraordinary Contact Group talks in the format of video conference immediately after Ukraine failed yet again the disengagement in Petrovskoye. “As of now, the situation is such that Kiev failed the beginning of disengagement measures on all the dates which the Contact Group approved per “Normandy Four” orders, while DPR militia repeatedly fired a white signal flare on the disengagement days,” the DPR diplomat said.
Earlier on Thursday, reports aid that the DPR had informed the OSCE SMM about readiness to resume Petrovskoye disengagement on November 9 if the Contact Group approved the date.
On November 4, Kiev failed the attempt to begin the disengagement of forces and hardware in the Petrovskoye-Bogdanovka area.
The Petrovskoye village is located on the contact line some 40 kilometres south of Donetsk. Bogdanovka-Petrovskoye is one of the three pilot disengagement areas in Donbass, in accordance with the Framework Agreement signed by the Contact Group participants in Minsk in September 2016. The conflicting parties disengaged back in October 2016, but later on, Ukrainian troops returned to their positions. Donetsk has been demanding since March 2018 that Kiev restore parity, but all the attempts have been unavailing so far.*jk