KIEV, June 18 (RIA Novosti) – Petro Poroshenko is ready to negotiate with “people with authority” in the east of Ukraine, the Ukrainian president’s envoy for conflict resolution in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions Irina Gerashchenko said.
“The president is reaching out not only with a decentralization proposal, but he’s also ready to negotiate with people with authority in the east who are ready to take responsibility to stabilize the situation,” Gerashchenko stated on Ukrainian TV Channel 5, but did not specify who could be among these "people with authority".
Gerashchenko added Poroshenko is ready to offer a ceasefire only if the local defense forces lay down their arms. The envoy also said the Ukrainian president is interested in the successful implementation of the conflict resolution plan in Donbas.
President Poroshenko appointed Gerashchenko, a deputy of the Verkhovna Rada, Ukraine’s parliament, as his special envoy for peaceful conflict resolution in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions on Monday. The statement came only hours after Russian President Vladimir Putin held phone talks with Poroshenko, discussing a possible ceasefire among other issues.
The need for negotiations has been a point of emphasis for both Russia and the OSCE. The “road map” devised in Geneva in April called for an end to the violence in the region, amnesty for all involved in the fighting and a peaceful dialogue between the Kiev authorities and independence supporters.
Since mid-April, Kiev authorities have been conducting a special military operation in the east of Ukraine to crack down on independence supporters refusing to recognize the legitimacy of the new government.
