Participants of the Trilateral Contact Group on Donbass during a new videoconference on October 14 pointed out to Russia that it should not block the work of the group within the framework of the Minsk process.
The reason for such actions on the part of the Russian Federation was Ukraine ‘s refusal of the so-called joint inspections of the positions of the Joint Forces in Donbass on Moscow’s terms. In particular, they talked about the photo and video recording and the inclusion of Russian officers in the inspection teams as “representatives of ORDLO”.
“When discussing political issues, it was said about preventing the blocking of the TCG’s work, and proposals for an action plan for the implementation of the Package of Measures for the implementation of the Minsk Agreements were discussed,” press service of the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyyy.
In turn, the OSCE representative emphasized that political issues, because of which the meetings of the group are not as productive as we would like, should not be at the forefront of the work of the subgroup on security.
In particular, the need to resolve the issue of an updated mine clearance plan was noted, which is especially important in connection with the approach of winter.
The head of the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission, Yashar Halit Cevik, emphasized the importance of maintaining the silence regime that has been in effect in Donbas since July 27. According to him, the ceasefire regime has been observed for three months and should be stable.
Militants and Russian mercenaries open fire almost every day in Donbass, but these attacks are usually provocative and unintended, so the Ukrainian military does not respond to them, and the military leadership of Ukraine does not consider these provocations to be a violation of the silence regime.
As reported Russia blocked talks within the Trilateral Contact Group, demanding “joint inspections” of Ukrainian positions to check the reports of the OSCE Monitoring Mission.
For the first time, the idea of ”joint inspections” was voiced at the TCG videoconference on 9 September. The parties agreed to “Inspection” of Ukrainian positions near the village of Shumy, Donetsk region … Logistics issues and security guarantees were to be provided by Ukraine.
It was planned to include the Ukrainian military, militants, and OSCE observers in the inspection group. The DNR terrorists wanted to send Major General of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation Ruslan Yakubov (Vakhitova).
The next day, the inspection was canceled due to the inadequate demands of the militants “to visit new points, carry out video and photographic recording, and sign a joint protocol.” At 14:15 the invaders fired on Ukrainian positions near Shumov , where representatives of the OSCE and the JCCC were supposed to meet.
