Another Contact Group on Ukraine Meeting in Minsk Not on Agenda: Ambassador

MINSK, October 26 (RIA Novosti) – Another meeting between delegates from Ukraine, Russia and the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) and the representatives of self-proclaimed Luhansk and Donetsk people's republics in the Belorusian capital Minsk is not yet on the agenda, the Ukrainian Ambassador to Belarus Mykhailo Yezhel told RIA Novosti Sunday.

"There is no information about further meeting of the Contact Group [in Minsk]," Yezhel said.
The diplomat stressed that it is necessary to deliver on the agreements reached during the previous meeting in Minsk, before preparing another round of talks.

"If we deliver on [the Minsk agreements], there will be peace," he added.

The military operation initiated by Kiev authorities in mid-April to suppress eastern Ukraine's independence supporters claimed the lives of 3,700 people and left over 8,800 injured, according to the latest UN estimates.

On September 5, at a meeting in Minsk the conflicting sides, with the mediation of Russia and the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, agreed on a ceasefire that came into force on the same day. On September 19, a memorandum stipulating the implementation of the truce was adopted during another round of the Contact Group talks in the Belarusian capital. Since then, both the Kiev forces and independence fighters have repeatedly accused each other of violating the truce.

Source: RIA Novosti 26-10-2014