Kremlin calls Kyiv's proposal to dissolve DPR and LPR 'unexpected'
The Press Secretary of the Russian President Dmitry Peskov called Kyiv's proposal to dissolve the self-proclaimed republics of the Donbas (Donetsk and Luhansk People's Republics) "very unexpected." According to him, these are some "new inputs" for Moscow, as well as for Berlin and Paris, reports RIA Novosti news agency.
After a meeting of a Trilateral Contact Group on Ukraine in Minsk, the Press Secretary of the Kyiv's representative, Darka Olifer, stated that Ukraine is ready to fulfill its political part of the Minsk agreements only after the dissolution of Donetsk and Luhansk People's Republics (DPR and LPR).
Peskov noted that it is still difficult to give any comment. "It is still unclear whether this means a withdrawal from the Minsk agreements, from earlier commitments, and documents signed earlier," he said. The Kremlin's representative recalled that the agreements were also signed by representatives of the DPR and LPR, which means that the settlement is impossible without approval from the representatives of these two republics.
Earlier, the OSCE reported that the talks in Minsk failed to agree on the withdrawal of forces in the Donbas. The main topic of the meeting was the security situation in Zolote and Petrovske, but Ukraine and representatives of the self-proclaimed republics did not agree to make concessions to each other, said the OSCE representative.