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Next Ukrainian Contact Group Meeting Due Friday – Donetsk Deputy Prime Minister

© RIA Novosti . Evgeny Biyatov / Go to the mediabankDonetsk People’s Republic Deputy Prime Minister Andrei Purgin.
Donetsk People’s Republic Deputy Prime Minister Andrei Purgin. - Sputnik International
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The Contact Group on Ukrainian reconciliation, comprising Russia, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), the Kiev government and east Ukraine independence supporters, will convene on Friday, a Donetsk official said Monday.

MINSK, September 1 (RIA Novosti) – The Contact Group on Ukrainian reconciliation, comprising Russia, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), the Kiev government and east Ukraine independence supporters, will convene on Friday, a Donetsk official said Monday.

“The next meeting will take place on [September] 5, so far, we only exchanged documents with the Ukrainian side. They expressed their point of view, we expressed ours,” Donetsk People’s Republic Deputy Prime Minister Andrei Purgin said when the four-hour talks in Minsk were over.

The Donetsk official said the negotiations will most likely take place in Minsk.

“Consultations will continue at our next meeting, and we will move closer to discussing concrete proposals. We will discuss possible practical states, including the ceasefire, and will actively negotiate the possibility of a prisoner swap under the “all for all” principle,” he said.

“Of course, our stances [remain] different so far,” Purgin added.

In July, in the Belarusian capital, Minsk, the international mediators have already met with representatives of independence supporters from eastern regions of Ukraine to discuss steps toward the truce in the Ukrainian standoff.

So far, the meetings had little effect, however Russian Foreign Ministry has highlighted the importance of the contact group consultations in terms of finding a political solution to the ongoing crisis in Ukraine.

Ukraine's southeast has been under fire since mid-April, when Kiev launched a special military operation aimed at suppressing independence supporters who refused to recognize the legitimacy of the new Kiev’s government after the February coup.

According to the latest UN estimates, almost 2,600 people have died since the Kiev’s military operation started, and about 6,000 have been injured.

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