TCG comments on Russia’s demand for a face-to-face meeting in Minsk

The meeting of the Trilateral Contact Group from Minsk can be postponed only after the elimination of coronavirus restrictions, says Oleksii Arestovych, a spokesperson for the Ukrainian delegation to the TCG. This issue will be considered first.

What the difficulty of moving the talks to a new place is was explained by the representative of the Ukrainian delegation in the Trilateral Contact Group, journalist Serhii Harmash, "Ukraine 24" reports.

"All three parties should agree on a new place. Second, the host country should also agree. And third, all negotiators must be able to come to the territory of the host country. We know that some participants are under sanctions and can't enter the territory of the European Union. This is a separate course of work for the TCG, which now, I think, is inappropriate, because one wave of coronavirus is replaced by another, and talking about a face-to-face meeting is such a political technology, and special information operation in Russia," he said.

Harmash believes that the place of face-to-face talks is a secondary issue.

"Negotiations have been going on online for over a year now. It's quite convenient, it has paid off. We remember that the form was used to sign the armistice, which saved dozens of military lives on our part alone. Therefore, the issue of where to hold the meeting and in what form is secondary. The primary is the parties wanting to conduct constructive dialogue; we don't see such a desire on the part of Russia. We see Moscow's desire to present itself as a mediator and impose a dialogue with its puppets. This is unacceptable for us and doesn't help resolve the conflict," he said.