Kyiv effectively refuses to withdraw forces in Stanytsia Luhanska on March 7 - LPR
LUHANSK. March 5 (Interfax) - Ukraine has not confirmed its readiness for a withdrawal of forces and equipment from the contact line in Stanytsia Luhanska scheduled for March 7, according to Vladislav Deinego, who represents the self-proclaimed Luhansk People's Republic (LPR) at talks in Minsk.
"Unfortunately, we did not receive an articulate answer from Ukraine, although we did send, through the Contact Group secretariat, a copy of the note from the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry, in which it says, in a very veiled form, that it is not going to carry out the withdrawal of forces and weapons at this site," Deinego was quoted by the Luhansk Information Center as saying.
While dodging the responsibility to implement the agreements, Kyiv continues making claims about shelling in the withdrawal site in Stanytsia Luhanska, the LPR representative said.
"Again, some hypothetical shell attacks are taking place there, although under clause two of the Framework resolution this is the sole competence of the Special Monitoring Mission (SMM) of the OSCE [Organization for Security and co-operation in Europe]. Only they have power to verify whether or not the ceasefire is being observed at the withdrawal site," Deinego said.
"So we have fairly little hope of the withdrawal of forces and equipment taking place on [March] 7, yet we are ready to honor our obligations," he said.
On March 3 LPR representatives notified the OSCE SMM of their readiness for the withdrawal of forces in Stanytsia Luhanska, he also said.
"Ukraine has already effectively refused to carry out the withdrawal of forces and weapons, but I hope international organizations will assist us in this matter and we will be able to withdraw forces and weapons at this site and stabilize the situation around the only checkpoint," the LPR representative said.
Yet another attempt at withdrawing forces in Stanytsia Luhanska slated for March 7 was announced earlier by Martin Sajdik, the OSCE Special Representative in the Trilateral Contact Group.