The Ukrainian delegation to the Trilateral Contact Group (TCG) regards Russia's attempt to legitimize representatives of the terrorist organizations "LPR" and "DPR" using the Arria-formula of the UN Security Council (UNSC) as a step towards complete disregard for the international legal field, according to a message on Facebook.

Commenting on the meeting held on Wednesday, December 2, the Ukrainian delegation to the TCG said that the event causes serious concern about the state of Russian diplomacy.

"The event boiled down to the discussions between representatives of Russian puppet organizations and Ukrainian political strategist Mykhailo Pohrebynsky, who, according to the plan, was supposed to represent [...] the Ukrainian side in the dialogue with Donbas, while Russian representative to the UN Vasily Nebenzya tried play the role of 'a moderator of the discussion'. There was a proposal to hold a referendum on the status of the territories in compliance with all international requirements in the part of ORDLO occupied by the Russian Federation," the message says.

It is also noted that Nebenzya argued that the Normandy format with the participation of Ukraine, Russia, France and Germany should not replace the Minsk format.

"What he meant by the 'Minsk format' remained a mystery, but this did not prevent the representative of the Russian Federation from emphasizing that 'there may be no more Norman meetings'," the Ukrainian delegation to the TCG said.

It is emphasized that during the meeting, Nebenzya spoke about the international nature of the conflict in eastern Ukraine.

"And the most interesting, and even sensational, Vasily Nebenzya said about the 'conflict in Donbas': it is not a domestic conflict in Ukraine, it is a political conflict between Russia and Ukraine," the message says.

According to the representatives of Ukraine to the TCG, what happened is an attempt by the Russian Federation to replace the process of settling the international armed conflict in Donbas in the Normandy format with some kind of "discussion between normal forces in Ukraine and representatives of the republics 'DPR' and' LPR'". Also, Russia is trying to legitimize its puppet formations by attracting them to the highest international platforms, in particular the UN, and by the possible holding of a pseudo-referendum, during which "the will of the people of Donbas will be determined," and also to qualify this process as "the true implementation of the Minsk agreements".

"The result of the implementation of this plan may be the unilateral recognition by the Russian Federation of the so-called 'LPR' and 'DPR' (terrorist organizations banned in Ukraine) as 'independent republics' or the threat of such recognition. This means that pressure on the top military-political leadership of Ukraine, which the Russian leadership tried to carry out within a year after the Paris agreements, failed," the Ukrainian delegation to the TCG said.

The message said that leadership of the Russian Federation has gone over to outright blackmailing the international community, primarily France and Germany, trying to discredit their role as active and consistent participants in the Normandy format.

"Ukraine has managed to multiply and strengthen a broad international coalition in its support, and the Russian Federation has instead switched to a dialogue with its proxy forces. The Ukrainian delegation regards these attempts of the Russian Federation as the penultimate step towards complete disregard of the international legal field and transition into a state of complete isolation from the international community," the message said.

The Ukrainian delegation said that holding a new summit in the Normandy format by the end of this year, which would sum up the attempts to fulfill the agreements reached as a result of the Paris summit in December 2019, and at which plans for their further implementation would be discussed, remains the only opportunity for the Russian Federation to prevent international isolation and fulfill the agreements by which it assumed responsibility at the highest level.