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Contact Group ready for Minsk consultations to finalize peaceful settlement arrangements

The Contact Group on Ukraine was supposed to have met in Minsk on Friday but Ukraine’s representative at the talks, Leonid Kuchma, failed to arrive in the Belarusian capital

© AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka

VIENNA, January 31. /TASS/. The representatives of the Contact Group on Ukraine are ready to depart for Minsk on Saturday to finalize the agreed arrangements on the peaceful settlement in Ukraine, the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) has said in a statement.

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Russian Foreign Ministry urges Kiev to end war with its own people

"The document which may be signed … (Saturday) includes a list of concrete steps designed to provide for the implementation of these priority tasks aimed at de-escalating the situation," the statement says.

The Contact Group of representatives of Ukraine, Russia and the OSCE proceeds from the understanding that the practical outcome must be achieved, namely a binding agreement on the immediate ceasefire and withdrawal of heavy weapons from the contact line, as agreed in the Minsk memorandum on September 19.

Other goals to be reached are the "unrestricted supply of basic goods and humanitarian assistance to the affected areas in the Donetsk and Lugansk regions, as well as tangible progress in the release of detainees."

The Contact Group on Ukraine was supposed to have met in Minsk on Friday but Ukraine’s representative at the talks, Leonid Kuchma, failed to arrive in the Belarusian capital. The negotiator of the self-proclaimed Donetsk republic, Denis Pushilin, earlier criticized Kiev’s "incoherent position.".

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