Press Statement of Special Representative of OSCE Chairperson-in-Office Sajdik after meeting of Trilateral Contact Group on 21 June 2017

MINSK, 22 June 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 21 June 2017:

“First of all, I cannot but mention the serious incident of 20 June 2017 when OSCE Special Monitoring Mission (SMM) staff members were attacked and shot at in certain areas of Donetsk region. Such incidents are unacceptable. Obviously, all parties shall provide for the security and unimpeded movement of SMM personnel. Immediate response measures shall be taken. The parties shall reiterate their commitment to safeguarding the work of OSCE SMM at the highest political level. Today, in support of the initiative of the Security Working Group, I raised this issue in the TCG and I expect prompt reactions from all the parties.

In addition, the Working Group presented the proposal of the so-called "harvest ceasefire" – a complete cessation of fire along the entire contact line for the harvest period from 24 June 2017 to 31 August 2017. The initiative has, of course, received support from the TCG. Participants pledged to convey it to their political leadership.

The issue of water supply, which we have repeatedly discussed, is closely related to the cessation of fire, the withdrawal of forces and hardware, and mine clearance.

In the conflict zone, more than two million people on both sides of the contact line depend on the common water supply systems of Donbas. These critical objects of water supply infrastructure have repeatedly been damaged by shelling. The TCG unanimously supported the proposal of the Head of the OSCE SMM Ambassador Ertuğrul Apakan to develop measures to ensure the sustainable operation of the water system for the next meeting. This applies to water pipelines and pumping stations near the settlements of Vasylivka, Petrivske, Krasnyi Lyman as well as the Yuzhnodonbasska water pipeline system.

The topic of water supply and corresponding payments was also considered in the Working Group on Economic Issues. It is a positive development that since late May, a second payment for water supply was made by certain areas of Luhansk region, thus providing water for the population of these areas. Participants of the Working Group still are to develop a stable payment mechanism for water supplies.

In the humanitarian field, the parties welcomed the significant work carried out since the previous meeting. In particular, additional interviews were conducted to verify the free will of those persons who, after their release, prefer to stay in the territory where they were in detention.

Finally, the Working Group on Political Issues continued to deliberate on the issues related to the so-called ‘Steinmeier formula’ in the context of the discussions of the recent Oversight Meeting of Political Directors and Deputy Foreign Ministers of the Normandy Four.”