OSCE roadmap for Ukraine de-escalation not proper substitute for negotiating process - Kyiv
Ukraine considers the Geneva accords the basic instrument for de-escalating the situation in the country's east, the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry said.
"The Geneva Memorandum adopted on April 17, 2014, which contains clearly defined obligations of the parties and was supported by all participants in the Geneva format constitutes the basic agreement for de-escalating the situation in east Ukraine," Ukrainian Foreign Ministry spokesman Yevhen Perebyinis said at a briefing on Tuesday.
He said Ukraine's practical steps towards implementing the Geneva accords were met with positive reactions from the European Union and the United States. "Our state also repeatedly expressed its readiness for holding a second Geneva meeting," said Perebyinis, adding that in this situation the process is being hampered precisely by Russia which, most likely, is not interested in de-escalation.
Perebyinis also said that the OSCE roadmap, which is often referred to by Russia, is an initiative of the Swiss representation in this organization, was not agreed upon with Ukraine and other parties to the Geneva process, and therefore has no formal status.
"Our state welcomes the efforts of the Swiss representation to look for ways to normalize the situation and considers the OSCE a key organization capable of constructively joining this process. However, we made it clear straight away that we see the roadmap of the OSCE's Swiss representation as one of possible auxiliary initiatives in the course of the all-encompassing process of normalizing the situation in east Ukraine," the Foreign Ministry spokesman stressed.
Certain clauses of this initiative may help in the situation, but will not be a proper substitute to the negotiating process in the Geneva format, he said.
"All references to the OSCE roadmap by Russia and its recommendations to be guided by it are an attempt to walk away from the Geneva process of de-escalating the situation in east Ukraine, to rid oneself of the responsibility for the current developments and exclude Ukraine from the decision-making process," the Ukrainian diplomat stressed.