Yermak describes talks on peace in eastern Ukraine as ‘protracted stagnation’

This was reported by the press service of the President’s Office on May 13.

Yermak described the current situation at the consultations of the Trilateral Contact Group and the negotiations of political advisers to the leaders of the Normandy format countries as "protracted stagnation".

"The shelling of the positions of the Armed Forces of Ukraine on the contact line continues every day. Unfortunately, Ukrainian servicemen continue to die and receive injuries. Recently, the use of heavy artillery has become more frequent,” he said.

In this regard, he told the diplomats about a number of initiatives of the Ukrainian side to intensify the peace process.

"Firstly, yesterday I sent a letter to all my colleagues in the Normandy format with a proposal to urgently convene a video conference or meet in person, which would be better, with the participation of political advisers and foreign ministers of the four countries," Yermak noted.

Secondly, the involvement of experts in political, military and legal matters would help intensify the work of the Normandy format, which was an initiative of Germany and France. These advisers could work out a variety of issues, which today are primarily part of the proposed "key clusters for the implementation of the Minsk agreements".

Thirdly, the Ukrainian side insists that special emphasis should be placed on Russia's unblocking of the implementation of decisions of the Paris Normandy Four summit, which took place in December 2019.

"Fourthly, we believe that holding another summit in the Normandy format would give a serious impetus to the peace process. Therefore, I would ask you to consider the possibility of a joint appeal of the G7 to Russia with a call to support the holding of this summit," Yermak said.

In addition, he said, it is important for the OSCE SMM to return to proactive verification of violations of both the ceasefire and the full range of relevant commitments of the parties to the Minsk security agreements.

In the second part of the meeting, Yermak told the G7 and EU diplomats about the course of corporate governance reform of state-owned companies, which is one of the priorities for President Volodymyr Zelensky.

The Head of the President’s Office invited the ambassadors and their countries to join the preparation of a draft law on improving corporate governance of legal entities, the shareholder of which is the state, which will ensure the implementation of modern international standards in Ukrainian legislation.

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