Press Statement of Special Representative of OSCE Chairperson-in-Office Sajdik after Meeting of Trilateral Contact Group on 16 October 2018

MINSK, 17 October 2018 – The Special Representative of the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office in Ukraine and in the Trilateral Contact Group (TCG), Ambassador Martin Sajdik, made the following statement to the press after the meeting of the TCG ‎and its Working Groups in Minsk on 16 October 2018:

“As you know, in early October, Ukraine prolonged the validity of the law on the special status of certain areas of Donetsk and Luhansk regions.

For my part, I welcome this fact as evidence of Ukraine’s commitment to the Minsk agreements and the peaceful resolution of the conflict.

Unfortunately, along with these good news, there are bad ones, too.

In the recent period, the number of ceasefire violations has sharply increased; this inevitably leads to new civilian casualties. You probably already know about the death of two women - a mother and daughter - last week in certain areas of Luhansk region.

In this regard, I once again solemnly urge all the sides to prevent such a development and to show full restraint.

This issue was in the focus of the Security Working Group today. The Group discussed additional measures to ensure a comprehensive and sustainable ceasefire. It considered as well the issues of disengagement of forces and hardware, and practical steps to implement "humanitarian demining".

The Humanitarian Working Group further considered questions related to the exchange of detainees and the search for missing persons. One of the discussion topics concerned also the possibility to improve crossing conditions at the contact line via entry-exit checkpoints.

The Economic Working Group focused on the issues related to water deliveries in the "Karbonyt" and "Voda Donbasa" supply systems, including further steps to carry out repair works on the South Donbas water pipeline, in Avdiivka’s industrial zone.

The Political Working Group continued working on its regular agenda issues, such as the implementation of the so-called ‘Steinmeier formula’.

Today, the Principal Deputy Head of the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission in Ukraine, Alexander Hug, participated in our meetings for the last time. He is leaving his position at the end of October. On behalf of all the TCG participants, I would like to express deep gratitude for all his hard work.”