The Special Representative of the OSCE Chairman-in-Office to the Contact Group, Ambassador Martin Sajdik, responded to the DPR initiative to convene an extraordinary meeting of the Contact Group via videoconference, the DPR Foreign Affairs Ministry reported.
“Due to the fact that for some technical reasons the coordinator will not be able to join the videoconference on the nearest dates we have proposed, he asked all members of the Contact Group to consider the potential meeting on November 8, and we accept this proposal.
At the moment, we have no information on the Ukrainian party’s reaction to the proposal by Mr. Sajdik, but if Kiev authorities demonstrate a constructive approach, the Contact Group meeting to set a new jointly agreed starting date of actions to eliminate violations on the site in the Petrovsky district may take place on November 8 at 11:30 a.m. Moscow time (10:30 a.m. Eastern European time).
If the meeting of the Contact Group is to be successful, the DPR People’s Militia forces will be in position to launch the implementation part of the resumed disengagement the very next day, on November 9, at 1:00 p.m. Moscow time (12:00 p.m. Eastern European time) in accordance with the scheduled plan jointly agreed a month ago if all participants in the meeting support this date.
As the ball is in Kiev’s court, we are looking forward to the consent of Ukraine’s official representative to participate in an extraordinary meeting of the Contact Group and a consensual decision on the starting date of the implementation activities,” Natalya Nikonorova said.