Representatives of the Russian Federation in the Trilateral Contact Group (TCG) on Donbas again refused to take part in extraordinary talks initiated by the OSCE on the morning of February 19 with the aim of urgently discussing the security situation in Donbas.

"The Ukrainian delegation to the Trilateral Contact Group informs that today the Russian Federation again did not take part in the TCG extraordinary meeting, convened at 11:00 a.m. on February 19, 2022, at the initiative of the OSCE coordinator in the TCG with the aim of urgently discussing the security situation," the Ukrainian delegation said on Facebook.

It is noted that such a position of the Russian Federation is surprising, because the political advisers to the leaders of the Normandy Format countries, in a joint statement on January 26, 2022, supported the unconditional observance of the ceasefire and full adherence to measures to strengthen the ceasefire regime of July 22, 2020, despite other issues of implementation of the Minsk Agreements.

The Ukrainian delegation emphasizes that "the non-participation of the Russian Federation indicates its conscious intention to continue escalating the situation, and blocking the TCG work casts doubt on the sincerity of the statements of the Russian leadership about the commitment to the implementation of the Minsk Agreements and the absence of aggressive intentions towards Ukraine."

"The degradation of security along the entire demarcation line and provocative statements and actions in the uncontrolled territories are of concern to the Ukrainian side. Such escalation occurs during the Munich Conference, when the attention of the entire world community is focused on security issues in Eastern Europe," they noted.

As reported, during consultations with the OSCE Coordinator in the TCG, the Ukrainian side stated that there were no plans to conduct an offensive operation, confirming this by the fact that the Armed Forces of Ukraine are in their positions in the JFO area, no rotations of units are made, no shock groups, etc.

Also, in the course of bilateral consultations, Ukraine once again confirmed its readiness for an urgent discussion within the TCG of the security situation and ways to de-escalate it.