Amnesty in Donbas is possible only after release of Ukrainian hostages

The unconditional release of all the hostages, who are illegally kept in cellars of the “DPR” and “LPR”, is the mandatory provision of the Minsk Agreements.

Representative of Ukraine in the negotiations Iryna Herashchenko posted this on Facebook.

She noted that the militants had set unacceptable conditions, “In fact, they assumed responsibility for the failure of implementation of the Minsk Agreements, linking two completely different points and questions. They try to link the release of our heroes with the amnesty for bandits. The second challenging issue is that they are trying to artificially reduce the number of the held hostages, turning the issue into rude bargaining.”

According to Iryna Herashchenko, the unconditional release of all the hostages, who are illegally kept in cellars of the “DPR” and “LPR”, is the mandatory provision of the Minsk Agreements, which should have been performed long ago.

“The responsibility for this public statement on disruption of the Minsk Agreements now fully lies with the militants and the country that supports them, I mean the Russian Federation. We will exert all possible pressure to make them fulfill the provisions of the Minsk Agreements on release of the hostages,” she wrote.

Herashchenko pointed out that the amnesty was a completely different point of the Minsk Agreements and it could take effect only after the return of the rule of law in the occupied territories.

The Trilateral Contact Group and its four sub-working groups (on political, economic, humanitarian and security issues) met in Minsk on October 20.  The representatives of the separatists joined the discussion as well.

Following the meeting, the participants noted that the current main problem was mine clearance in Donbas.

The next meeting of the Trilateral Contact Group in Minsk scheduled for October 27.

As a reminder, as stated by Kostiantyn Reutsky from Luhansk human rights center “Postup”, the amnesty for people, who have committed serious crimes, is impossible, because it will set a time bomb under the foundation of the rule of law.