09:28 31.03.2016

Ukraine's opposition gov't proposes to lift 'economic blockade' of Donbas, launch train service to region

2 min read
Ukraine's opposition gov't proposes to lift 'economic blockade' of Donbas, launch train service to region

Ukrainian opposition government leader, Borys Kolesnikov, has called for the economic blockade of the separate districts of Donetsk and Luhansk regions to be lifted.

"The economic blockade of the so-called republic must be lifted immediately to enable all enterprises working under Ukrainian jurisdiction to resume their work, provide people with jobs, salaries," Kolesnikov said, during a presentation of the opposition government's anti-crisis plan in Kyiv on Wednesday.

To lift the blockade, the Cabinet should not wait for the final implementation of the Minsk agreement but repeal, today, its decree N595 approved over a year ago, which had no result, Kolesnikov said.

He also slammed the access control system currently in place in government-controlled and breakaway parts of Donbas. "It is a real concentration camp. People are queuing there for days," he said.

One simple solution to this issue is "to re-open passenger train service to Luhansk and Donetsk stations," the shadow government leader said.

"Since you allow buses and cars in there, why would it be difficult to send trains there with a half an hour checkpoint [a half an hour stop at the checkpoint]?" he said

"We demand that the economic blockade be lifted, order at the checkpoint, and that the entire passenger flow be moved onto the railroad," Kolesnikov said.

It was reported earlier that on November 7, 2014, the Ukrainian Cabinet passed the N595 decree, entitled "Several aspects of financing for publicly-funded institutions, social payouts to population and provision of financial support to certain enterprises and organizations in Donetsk and Luhansk regions."

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