14:46 19.10.2017

Kyiv expects OSCE official Frisch visit to Luhansk will aid captives' release

2 min read
Kyiv expects OSCE official Frisch visit to Luhansk will aid captives' release

The Ukrainian delegation to the Trilateral Contact Group on Ukraine is expecting that a visit to certain districts of Luhansk region by Tony Frisch, the coordinator of the contact group's humanitarian subgroup from the OSCE, will help revive efforts to release hostages.

"One hundred and fifty-two hostages are being illegally held in certain districts of Donetsk and Luhansk regions. Ukraine is ready to agree to serious compromises in order to see them free. However, representatives of certain districts of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions still want the release of those who are not related to the events in Donbas. We expect that a trip to certain districts of the Luhansk region by humanitarian subgroup coordinator Tony Frisch will help unblock the work to release people and that Mr. Frisch will be able to visit all hostages, inspect the conditions in which they are being held, help them contact their relatives, and also make sure that these people are not being tortured," Darka Olifer, spokeswoman for Leonid Kuchma, the former president of Ukraine and Kyiv's representative to the trilateral group, wrote on her Facebook page after the trilateral group's meeting in Minsk on Wednesday.

According to Olifer, Ukraine continues to demand both within the subgroups and at the contract group the annulment of the Russian president's decree recognizing documents issued by the self-proclaimed republics, the cancellation of the circulation of Russian rubles in certain districts of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions, and the abolition of what Kyiv sees as the current pseudo-border. Kyiv also insists that steps to seize Ukrainian and European enterprises operating in militia-controlled territories be stopped, she said.

Luhansk is continuing to look for excuses to avoid honoring its obligations to open the Zolote checkpoint on the contact line, she said.

"The leaders of the Normandy Four countries reached an agreement as long as a year ago to put the Zolote checkpoint into operation, but certain districts of the Luhansk region are still looking for excuses not to fulfill their obligations and are avoiding steps that would significantly improve the humanitarian situation in the region. Ukraine, for its part, took all necessary measures a year-and-a-half ago to launch this checkpoint, which is badly needed by residents of the Luhansk region," Olifer said.

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