Statement by the Trilateral Contact Group

MINSK, 30 January 2015 - On 28 January President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko met with the representatives of the Trilateral Contact Group, the Special Representative of the Chairperson-in-Office of the OSCE, Ambassador Heidi Tagliavini, representative of Ukraine Leonid Kuchma, and representative of the Russian Federation, Ambassador of the Russian Federation to Ukraine, Mikhail Zurabov to exchange views on the most pressing questions relating to the de-escalation of the situation in some districts of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions.

On the eve of the consultations in Minsk, the Trilateral Contact Group proceeds from the understanding that the following practical outcome must be achieved: a binding agreement on the immediate ceasefire and withdrawal of heavy weapons from the contact line, as agreed in the Minsk Memorandum on 19 September 2014, unrestricted supply of basic goods and humanitarian assistance to the affected areas in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions, as well as tangible progress in the release of detainees.

The document which may be signed tomorrow includes a list of concrete steps designed to provide for the implementation of these priority tasks aimed at de-escalating the situation. The document was finalized on 29 January.

The Trilateral Contact Group is ready to depart for Minsk (Republic of Belarus) tomorrow in order to have another round of consultations and finalize the agreed arrangements with the signatories of the Minsk Protocol and Minsk Memorandum of 5 and 9 September 2014, aimed at the implementation of Ukrainian President’s peace plan.