TCG: meeting on Donbas was held in a new format

On Tuesday, March 30, a meeting of the political subgroup of the Trilateral Contact Group (TCG) took place.

Serhii Harmash, a member of the Ukrainian delegation to the TCG, spoke about its results, Ukraine 24 reports.

Today's meeting was held without Maia Pirohova (a representative of the so-called DNR, convicted in Ukraine for terrorism, who tried to take part in previous meetings during the protests of the Ukrainian party – ed.), It was held in a unique format. For the first five hours, bilateral consultations from the OSCE moderator with the representatives of the delegations lasted, then for half an hour, there was an informal information meeting of the official representatives of the delegations, and after that, the official working group worked for half an hour.

"It was announced there that Pirohova was urgently hospitalized because of her health condition, so she isn't present today. Let's look further. We've stated once again that if she's present, the Ukrainian delegation will leave the negotiating table," he said.

Harmash noted Russia was trying to "squeeze" Ukraine out of the talks.

"Today the key thing is that the talks aren't disrupted, the process is ongoing. Although I have the impression that the primary goal for Russia is not a peaceful settlement, but forcing us to withdraw from the talks and then accusing us of disrupting the negotiation process. The process was even constructive, some procedural issues were discussed. I'd like to note that, unfortunately, the OSCE as a moderator has shown that it considers the ORDLO representatives as a party to the talks, as a separate delegation," he said.

Four servicemen from the Joint Forces were killed and two were injured in the shelling.