Press Statement of Special Representative of OSCE Chairperson-in-Office, Ambassador Martin Sajdik, after meeting of the Trilateral Contact Group on 1 February 2017

MINSK, 2 February 2017 – 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 1 February 2017:

In the humanitarian field, an important positive development has been today’s substantial discussion between Ukrainian authorities and representatives from ORDO/ORLO of lists of detainees in relation to the conflict. The lists will now be verified by the sides. In addition, participants discussed an issue regarding detainees who decided to stay on the territory controlled by the Government of Ukraine after their release. A mechanism to ensure that such decisions are respected will be developed with the support of a third party. Furthermore, a neutral organization will be involved to return personal documents to released detainees in the future.

In the political field, the discussion focused on issues related to the so-called ’Steinmeier formula.’

In the economic field, a number of open issues, such as payment of utility bills, compensation of salary arrears of railway workers, payment of pensions as well as health certificates were discussed.

As you may assume, security issues were the key subject of the discussion both in the TCG and in the Working Group on Security. As a result of these discussions, the TCG and the representatives from certain areas of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions of Ukraine made a joint statement calling for a ceasefire in the Avdiivka area.