Multilateral consultations with Kyiv could be continued only with mediators - DPR
MOSCOW. July 1 (Interfax) - Multilateral consultations on settling the situation in Ukraine could be continued amid the fact that Kyiv refused to extend a truce but only with mediators, First Deputy Prime Minister of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic (DPR) Andrey Purgin said.
"The ceasefire was only in words - Ukraine pretended it was not shooting and we pretended we believed this. So consultations could be continued following Kyiv's statements on the refusal to extend truce," Purgin told Interfax on Tuesday.
At the same time, mediators are needed for contact with Kyiv, Purgin said. "We are parties at war, so we can not talk directly. Mediators are needed," he said.
Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) representatives and Russian Ambassador to Ukraine Mikhail Zurabov participated in previous rounds of consultations, Purgin said.
As to the proposal of Ukrainian presidential commissioner for settling the situation in eastern Ukraine Irina Gerashchenko to hold a third meeting of the contact group in Minsk, Purgin said: "This is possible theoretically but will be difficult to do practically."
"In this case negotiators of the DPR will have to first cross into Russian territory and then fly to Minsk because the airport in Donetsk is not operational," Purgin said.
"It is much easier for negotiators of Kyiv to come to us to Donetsk from western Ukraine. So I do not see convincing reasons to move consultations to Minsk," he said.
"The situation will not change drastically" after the ceasefire is cancelled, Purgin said. "Conflict escalation is possible but it will not last long as balance of forces remains the same," he said.
The third meeting of the Ukraine-OSCE-Russia contact group might take place in Minsk, Gerashchenko said earlier on Tuesday.