DISINFO: Ukraine disrupts humanitarian meeting on Donbas
SUMMARY
The Ukrainian delegation is to blame for the disruption of a meeting of the Humanitarian Working Group of the Trilateral Contact Group on Donbas.
RESPONSE
This is a recurring disinformation narrative abut war in Ukraine and Minsk Agreements, accusing Ukraine of obstructing the work of the Trilateral Contact Group for the peaceful settlement of the situation in eastern Ukraine and hampering peace initiatives.
Actually, the Russian delegation announced that they will include Maya Pirogova in the humanitarian subgroup on 25 August 2021, one day prior to a meeting scheduled for 26 August 2021. Pirogova is a Ukrainian citizen who was tried and convicted of terrorism. She is an official at the information ministry of the so-called “Donetsk People’s Republic”, which is considered in Ukraine a terrorist organisation. Kyiv refused to take part in talks with her as a participant.
The Ukrainian delegation to the Trilateral Contact Group placed responsibility for disrupting the meeting on the Russian delegation, which made a conscious attempt to include an official representing separatists in the talks. By doing so, Russia made another attempt at legitimising the separatists in Donbas and making them a party to the conflict and, consequently, to the talks, which is inadmissible for Ukraine.
The Trilateral contact group has been working on a peaceful settlement of the situation in Donbas since 2014. Three parties involved in this process are representatives of Ukraine, Russia and the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE).
Read more disinformation reports alleging that Ukraine is blocking the Donbas peace process.