Vladimir Makei comments on proposal of leader of Kazakhstan to change negotiation platform

19 января 2018

"Negotiations on Ukraine can be transferred even to Antarctica, if there is confidence in their success", said the head of the Belarusian Foreign Ministry Vladimir Makei, as he commented on the statement of the leader of Kazakhstan on the results of his meeting with the US President about the possible transfer of the negotiation platform fr om Minsk.

Vladimir Makei, Foreign Minister of Belarus: "It is worth recalling that Belarus did not ask for negotiations on Ukraine, but the leaders of the Normandy Four countries asked President Alexander Lukashenko to host the meetings on the settlement of the Ukrainian conflict. But: it is a conflict in our family, in our region. And we are vitally interested in its resolution. We are not participants in the negotiations, but the President of Belarus has repeatedly proposed various options for settling this crisis, including the readiness to ensure control of Belarusian peacekeepers on the Russian-Ukrainian border and the contact line."

The OSCE Special Representative Martin Sajdik stressed that three-party contact group remains the only permanent format for the settlement of the conflict in the east of Ukraine.

The Foreign Ministry of Germany has noted today that it is important to achieve progress in the implementation of the Minsk agreements. Representative of the department Rainer Broil stated at a briefing in Berlin: "I do not want to evaluate individual proposals. What is essential for us is that it helps to move forward in the settlement, and it is less important wh ere this will take place."