Kiev's suggestion to invite the US into the Minsk talks entails the dismantling of formats of negotiations on the Minsk Agreements, Lugansk People’s Republic representative in the Contact Group political subgroup Rodion Miroshnik wrote on his Telegram channel.
Earlier Ukrainian president Zelensky announced his wish for US participation in the Donbass conflict settlement.
"Zelensky seeks to break up Minsk Agreements negotiation formats," Miroshnik said.
He reminded that the agreements stipulate political and diplomatic way to settle the conflict by one clearly defined way – direct dialog between Kiev, and Donetsk and Lugansk.
"It is the sides of the conflict that must agree on its settlement; only this format allows to take all the details into account to guarantee the end of the conflict and a long-term normalization of the relationships," he said.
"The composition of the negotiating sides has been established, its review is unlikely, as it requires the endorsement from all the participating sides. At the same time, we can see that the dialogue is almost stymied within both existing formats (the Normandy Four and the Contact Group), and Kiev is playing a key role in this situation," Miroshnik writes.
In the given circumstances, Donbass Republics proposed to invite the US to a one-time meeting of the Normandy Four format "merely to reinvigorate the dialogue in the existing formats, but not to reshuffle the participants."
"Zelensky's proposition is a modified version of the Republics' proposition, but the former envisages the razing of all the existing formats," Miroshnik added.
Washington could have pressured Kiev into compliance with the agreements, he said, as the US formally supports the Minsk Agreements.
The Minsk Agreements provide for a comprehensive ceasefire, withdrawal of all heavy weapons from the contact line, starting a dialogue on reconstruction of social and economic ties between Kiev and Donbass. It also envisages carrying out constitutional reform in Ukraine providing for decentralization and adopting permanent legislation on a special status of certain areas of the Donetsk and Lugansk regions. *t
