Kyiv and the so-called Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics authorities have not yet been able to agree on an exchange of prisoners, negotiations in Minsk are ongoing. Daria Morozova, the «Ombudsman» of the so-called DPR stated this based on the first round of negotiations, RIA News reported.
"The first stage of the negotiations of the working group has just ended. The Ukrainian side deliberately delays the process of discussing and implementing the decisions enshrined in the final document after the meeting of the leaders of the Normandy format in Paris," – Morozova said.
Today at a meeting of the Trilateral Contact Group in Minsk there really was a conflict over the issue of prisoner exchange. The Ukrainian side proposed the formula “all convicted to all convicted” instead of the formula “established on all established” in the Paris communique. Tony Frisch, coordinator of the OSCE special monitoring group, proposed an exchange in several stages, which was also not mentioned after the meeting in Paris.
In turn, the representatives of the so-called Republics insisted that the exchange should take place according to the “all for all” formula, as stated in the final communique of the leaders of the Norman Four after the meeting in Paris.
A second round of negotiations on this issue is expected.
As we reported, Representative of Luhansk People’s Republic (LPR) Olga Kobsteva stated that the statement of Head of Security Service of Ukraine Ivan Bakanov about the difficulties in the preparation and holding of the prisoners’ exchange is considered as the attempt to avoid the commitments announced by Ukrainian side to hold the procedural clearance of people.
