LUHANSK. March 29 (Interfax) - The self-proclaimed Luhansk People's Republic (LPR) special envoy at the Minsk talks Vladislav Deinego blamed the Ukrainian side for blocking the endorsement of the rules of procedure for the Contact Group on Donbas conflict settlement.
"The Contact Group's work is largely complicated due to the lack of the rules of procedure, which should completely settle the issues of organizing its activity and the Contact Group itself, and working subgroups," Deinego said in a statement published on the LuhanskInformCenter website.
As of now, "this issue is regulated by informal 'mode of actions' by the coordinator, but it does not cover a number of pivotal issues," the LPR special envoy said.
The norms of documenting the meetings of the Contact Group and working subgroups, a written formalization of the decisions made and responsibility for the refusal to implement them should rule out the possibility of a free interpretation and deviation from the obligations assumed, Deinego said.
"The Ukrainian side has taken advantage of these problems several times already to reject the consensus decisions made earlier on a number of issues of conflict political settlement," the LPR envoy said.
The issue of rules of procedure of the Contact Group and working subgroups following insistent demands by Donbas representatives was suggested by the coordinator for consideration of the group at several recent meetings in Minsk, but it has been discussed after all, he said.
"Clear-cut rules of attendance at the talks are apparently extremely unprofitable to the Ukrainian side, and they will continue attempts to block the endorsement of the rules of procedure. However, we are still hopeful that with support from the OSCE and the Russian Federation the next meeting in Minsk will be more fruitful in terms of promoting the issue of the rules of procedure," Deinego said.