Ukrainian Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin on June 24 will present elements of the peace plan proposed by Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko at the annual conference of the OSCE in Vienna and at the meeting of the Ukraine-NATO commission in Brussels on June 25, Ukrainian Deputy Foreign Minister Danylo Lubkivsky told a briefing on June 24.
The stay of German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier in Kyiv is also part of the peace process, he said.
Lubkivsky said Ukraine and the entire international community demand
from Russia real support of the peace plan proposed by Poroshenko.
He said Russia continues an information and economic war against
Ukraine. “Economic pressure and restrictions have increased. The gas
blackmailing has made Ukraine regroup and switch to new conditions
governing the functioning of the energy sector,” Lubkivsky said.
At the same time, Lubkivsky gave high marks to the participation by
Russian Ambassador to Ukraine Mikhail Zurabov in yesterday’s
consultations on the settlement of the situation in eastern Ukraine, but
said he does not regard the June 23 meeting as negotiations.
“There were no negotiations in Donetsk yesterday. There was a meeting that is part of the settlement processes,” Lubkivsky said.
He recalled that Ukraine’s second president Leonid Kuchma, a representative of Ukraine, has taken part in the meeting.
The diplomat also promised that the outcome of the meeting will be presented to the public in the nearest future.
According to earlier reports, consultations between representatives
of Ukraine and the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Luhansk People’s
Republics took place in the building of the Donetsk region’s
administration on Monday.
Among the meeting participants were Russian Ambassador to Ukraine
Mikhail Zurabov, Heidi Tagliavini, a representative of the current OSCE
chairman-in-office, Ukraine’s second president Leonid Kuchma, Viktor
Medvedchuk (the head of the public organization Ukrainian Choice), Oleg
Tsariov (leader of the movement Southeast), and representatives of the
Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics.
