At a meeting of the Minsk Trilateral Contact Group in June 2019, representatives of Russia and the unrecognized Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics discussed lifting the economic blockade with Ukraine’s representative, former president Leonid Kuchma. After harsh reactions from many Ukrainian commentators, Kuchma hurried to clarify that Ukraine could consider lifting the blockade only if the rublization of the economy in the so-called republics was reversed and the factories and mines that had been seized were returned to their Ukrainian owners.
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Brian Milakovsky: How Russia benefits from Donbas economic blockade
Supporters of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic take part in a rally at Saur Mogyla Memorial on September 7, 2017 to celebrate the 74th anniversary of Donbass liberation from Fascist-German invaders during WWII.
