MOSCOW. Dec 6 (Interfax) - Russia's representative in the Contact Group which mediates the conflict in eastern Ukraine, Boris Gryzlov, has called on the Ukrainian administration to step up implementation of the humanitarian part of the Package of Measures.
"I'd like to seize the opportunity to call on the Ukrainian authorities and personally President Petro Poroshenko to organize a broad amnesty before Christmas for those involved in the Donbas events. This will be a serious step towards settlement of the conflict," Gryzlov said in an interview with Interfax.
As for exchanging prisoners of war, Gryzlov insists that the conflicting parties ought to adhere to the all-for-all principle.
"In the humanitarian area, the utmost important matter today is releasing persons detained by the conflicting parties based on the all-for-all principle. And the release must be accompanied by an amnesty, because otherwise, the released will at once be detained again," he said.
In Gryzlov's view, disengagement of warring sides in Stanytsia Luhanska, which has not been realized so far, would accelerate analogous processes in other segments of the contact line in Donbas.
"In the area of security, the central issue today is disengagement of the conflicting forces. The agreements achieved in this regard have been implemented only in part, near the populated areas of Zolote and Petrivske. There is still a failure to do it Stanytsia Luhanska. If this is done, it will open a window of opportunity regarding the disengagement of forces and weapons of war in other segments which are singled out and wait to be agreed upon," he said.
Gryzlov went on to recall that "it was highlighted at the meeting of foreign ministers in Minsk on November 29 that it is important to resume work in full in the economical subgroup, which has done a lot for rehabilitation of the region's infrastructure, transport, and power and water supply this year".