The reports of the Ukrainian media about the reason for the suspension of the meeting in the Trilateral Contact Group (TCG) to resolve the situation in Donbass do not correspond to reality.

This was reported to RT by the representative of the self-proclaimed Luhansk People's Republic in the political subgroup in negotiations with Kiev, Rodion Miroshnik.

Earlier, there were reports in the media that the Ukrainian delegation to the TCG supported the Special Representative of the OSCE Chairman-in-Office in Ukraine and the TCG Heidi Grau in her decision to stop the meeting on September 30, allegedly due to a violation of the confidentiality regime by the Russian side.

This was announced by a source close to the negotiation process.

It was also alleged that the Russian side allegedly kept an unauthorized audio and video recording of the work of the TCG, which it itself reported during the meeting.

In addition, the head of the Russian delegation allegedly announced his intention to unilaterally publish such records.

Grau suggested taking a break in the group's work and holding an extraordinary meeting to formulate a common code of conduct and information policy for all participants.

The Ukrainian side, in turn, approved this decision, stating that no one has the right to violate the principles of the group's work by individual actions.

However, according to Rodion Miroshnik, in reality the situation looks different.

“The point is that during the meeting of the contact group, in response to the insinuations that Ukraine spreads after each meeting, the Russian Federation proposed to record them in audio or video format, transcribe them and publish them so that everyone has a common understanding of what was actually said, ”explained Miroshnik.

He also said that Ukraine has recently introduced bloggers working with Western foundations into its group, who have long been spreading fakes about the work of the contact group.

“We are not talking about confidentiality in principle, because many times during or after the meeting of the contact group, Ukraine leaked to journalists draft documents that were not signed or agreed upon, but only brought up for discussion, spread its point of view as the only correct one, twisted statements that were made by opponents.

The Russian Federation proposed such a way out, against which, of course, the Ukrainian side was indignant and twisted the data on the meetings of the contact group, stating that the Russian side was trying to violate confidentiality, ”says Miroshnik.

Dead end way

Political scientists state that recently the work of the Trilateral Contact Group has reached a dead end.

In mid-September, Russia's plenipotentiary to the TCG Boris Gryzlov said that the achievement of any agreements was largely blocked by the inconsistent position of the Ukrainian side regarding the implementation of the Minsk agreements.

He said that the TCG was again forced to submit for consideration the issue of the Verkhovna Rada's resolution regarding the local elections.

This decision prohibits holding them in Donbass and contains a number of conditions that contradict the Minsk agreements.

According to Gryzlov, despite the fact that the resolution violated the agreements and agreements of the Normandy Four, as well as the UN Security Council resolution, it has not yet been amended.

  • Plenipotentiary of the Russian Federation in the contact group Boris Gryzlov

  • globallookpress.com

  • © MFA Russia

Boris Gryzlov also stated that Ukraine actually disavowed the agreement on additional measures to control the ceasefire in Donbass, signed on July 22, which largely helped to defuse the situation on the contact line.

Thus, the Ukrainian side refused to jointly inspect its positions on the line of contact by representatives of Kiev and Donbass with the participation of the OSCE.

Representatives of Ukraine on September 10 refused to admit the inspectors to the site in the area of ​​the Shumy settlement, where the construction of new fortifications was recorded, which is prohibited by the signed agreement.

Now the whole range of measures will have to be discussed anew, said Gryzlov.

On September 30, the plenipotentiary of Russia to the group noted that the latest statements by Kiev about the return of Donbass on its own terms mean a de facto refusal to implement the Minsk agreements.

“We record that the latest political decisions of Kiev are also aimed at continuing the aggression against Donbass.

The Verkhovna Rada's resolution on local elections, which violates the Minsk agreements, has not been corrected, ”RIA Novosti quoted Gryzlov as saying.

On the website of the President of Ukraine, it was stated that the main goal of the Kiev delegation, "like the entire state, is the return exclusively on Ukrainian terms of all temporarily occupied territories."

"This fundamentally contradicts the very basis of the Minsk agreements," Gryzlov stressed.

The Russian plenipotentiary stressed that Ukraine is forcing the representatives of the self-proclaimed DPR and LPR to take retaliatory measures, and Kiev must be ready to implement them.

Recall that the return of Donbass on the terms of Ukraine was announced in Zelensky's office after the president withdrew Vitold Fokin from the Kiev delegation.

The reason for the resignation was Fokin's statement that he did not see evidence that there was a war between Russia and Ukraine in the Donbass.

According to the President of Ukraine, Vitold Fokin "departed primarily from a fair assessment of the temporary occupation of Crimea by Russia, the city of Sevastopol, and certain areas of Donetsk and Lugansk regions."

"There are no real mechanisms"

Political scientist and economist Alexander Dudchak, commenting on reports on Russia's proposal to record the meeting of the contact group, called this initiative reasonable.

“If everything is documented, and then published in the form of a transcript, then there will be no other interpretations from the Ukrainian side, it will be more difficult to cover up the sabotage carried out by Ukraine.

Such a situation could really bring the Ukrainian side to clean water, ”Dudchak said.

He noted that the OSCE, whose representative interrupted the meeting, has no desire to resolve the situation in the interests of Donbass residents, whose lives are constantly under threat.

Aleksandr Dudchak added that earlier Kiev had tried repeatedly to rewrite the Minsk agreements "for itself, to create a precedent in which the actual implementation of the points would differ from the signed text."

“However, the Ukrainian side did not succeed.

I doubt that Kiev can be forced through convictions, appeals to conscience, common sense to comply with the Minsk agreements, ”the expert noted.

In turn, according to the teacher of the RANEPA Sergei Margulis, Ukraine appeals to the fact that there are some unspoken rules for conducting diplomatic negotiations, which do not imply the announcement of their results unilaterally.

“The Ukrainian side is afraid that it will have to face the fact that Russia will have irrefutable evidence from which it will not be able to evade.

That is why she happily supported the proposal of the OSCE position, "Margulis explained in a conversation with RT.

According to him, in the Ukrainian establishment "the point of view that the Minsk agreements should be sabotaged" dominates today.

“Today there are no real mechanisms by which one can force the official authorities in Kiev to fully comply with the Minsk agreements, including implementing the Steinmeier formula,” the political scientist concluded.