Ukrainian ambassador to Belarus: Ukrainian Donbas talks participants go to Minsk at own expense and are humiliated
The participants representing Ukraine in the Minsk talks have traveled and still travel to Belarus at their own expense, said former Ukrainian deputy prime minister and current Ambassador to Belarus Roman Bezsmertnyi, as reported by Gordon news website.
However, the ambassador noted that the Ukrainian diplomats work on a volunteer basis and experience great humiliation because the government does not care about the people who are negotiating on its behalf.
“You work, but you have no documents for ensuring this process, no clear instructions, how you must act, you have no elementary conditions. When I decided for the first time to write a letter about internally displaced persons, I was told: ‘But no one will reply to your letter, who are you, even?’ You can’t imagine the humiliation experienced by Prime Minister Marchuk, President Kuchma,” he said.
According to the ambassador, diplomats representing Ukraine have sometimes had to come to the embassy to sleep on the floor, even as many as 12 people.
“I’ve seen one of the participants toss the diplomatic passport in the Foreign Minister’s [Klimkin’s] face. They go there on foreign passports, and you know the Belarusian discipline: they put stamps from the photograph to the last page. And the negotiators are people who need to travel not only to Belarus,” Bezsmertnyi remarked.
The diplomat nevertheless emphasizes that Ukraine needs the Minsk agreements.
“Whatever they are, they are needed for two things. Firstly, to ensure that the bombardments stop, and secondly, to get people out. While there are still no other mechanisms, they need to go there,” the ambassador believes.