DONETSK. May 8 (Interfax) - Those who left the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic (DPR) should not be representing its interests at Trilateral Contact Group (TCG) talks in Minsk, the DPR foreign ministry said on Thursday.
"These representatives are appointed by the Ukrainian executive authority and as negotiators will be reflecting its opinion. The people now living in Ukraine-controlled cities cannot represent the people of our republic in Minsk," the ministry stated.
Earlier, Ukrainian presidential administration chief Andriy Yermak said that Ukraine had invited to the next TCG meeting in Minsk "displaced persons, who were forced to flee Donbas, as representatives of the territories."
For his part, the foreign minister of the Luhansk people's republic (LPR), Vladislav Deinego, said that Kyiv must discuss a conflict settlement with Donbas residents and that resettlers had no role to play in this process. "If the government in Kyiv appoints people to advance its own position and will thus be talking to itself, this won't lead to a settlement," Deinego was quoted in a statement released on Thursday.
The combined population of the LPR and DPR currently exceeds 3.5 million people, he said. "It is these millions that Ukraine is now fighting, and Ukraine must attempt to reach agreement within the Minsk negotiation process rather than trying to replace them with convenient 'handy' pseudo-representatives," Deinego said.
"And it is us, and only us, the representatives elected by these four million Donbas residents, who have the right and power to speak on behalf of Donbas in Minsk. And the authorities in Kyiv will have to accept this fact," Deinego said.