DPR says Svyatohorsk peace consultations technically impossible
MOSCOW. July 8 (Interfax) - The administration of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic is skeptical about the proposal of Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko to hold a next round of consultations on the peace process in the east in Svyatohorsk, Donetsk region.
"I do not see how this is technically possible. Ukrainian gunmen are in control of Svyatohorsk. We may simply not be able to return from there. As to the security guarantees no one has given us any and any guarantees in this country are doubtful," Donetsk People's Republic First Deputy Prime Minister Andrei Purgin told Interfax.
In turn, DPR Prime Minister Alexander Borodai proposed to hold the consultations in a place, which would be safe for the militia.
"Certainly, we will discuss the proposal of [Ukrainian President] Petro Poroshenko about holding the next round of consultations in Svyatohorsk but I do not think we will be going there. This is not safe. And any guarantees of Poroshenko related to the territory he does not control are doubtful," Borodai told Interfax on Tuesday.
He said a number of the safest places for the next round of consultations were being discussed. "We are discussing Donetsk, any town of Russia and Belarus. There are lots of places where the consultations may be held equally safe for all partakers," Borodai said.
Donetsk Mayor Alexander Lukyanchenko said after the July 7 meeting with the Ukrainian president that Poroshenko had proposed the town of Svyatohorsk in the Donetsk region as a venue of the next round of consultations on the Donbas crisis resolution.
