UWC condemns dialogue with leaders of Russia-controlled organizations in Donbas

“The Ukrainian World Congress considers unacceptable the decision of the Trilateral Contact Group to create a Consultation Council involving representatives of the self-proclaimed so-called Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics alongside the official Ukraine’s representatives. We once again reiterate our position that there can be no direct negotiations with the leaders of Russia-controlled terrorist organizations of the so-called Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics (DNR and LNR),” the UWC wrote on its Facebook page.

Such agreements de-facto confirm the Russian playbook of the “internal conflict in Ukraine” and relieve the aggressor from any responsibility for the bloody war in Donbas. “Such arrangements, if adopted on 25 March, will legitimize the foreign occupation forces in Ukraine, impair Ukraine’s sovereignty and could create a divide within Ukraine – which is Russia’s intent,” the UWC noted.

According to the norms of the international legislation Russia as an aggressor state bears full responsibility for the war in Donbas, for restoring the region destroyed by the war and for de-occupying the Donbas and Autonomous Republic of Crimea, sovereign territory of Ukraine.

As reported, on March 11, a meeting of the Trilateral Contact Group (TCG) on the peaceful settlement of the situation in eastern Ukraine was held in Minsk. It was attended by Head of the Office of the President of Ukraine Andriy Yermak and Deputy Head of the Presidential Administration of the Russian Federation Dmitry Kozak. The parties agreed to establish the Consultation Council as part of the TCG political subgroup after consultations with representatives of the OSCE, the French Republic and the Federal Republic of Germany on the implementation of the agreements reached during the Normandy format summit.

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