I.Herashchenko: “Restoration of Ukraine’s territorial integrity and sovereignty ought to be carried out through political and diplomatic efforts”
August 28, 2017 was the day of a regular meeting of informal MPs group “The Minsk platform” with a Croatian delegation, headed by Skare Ozbolt, ex-minister of justice and former deputy head of presidential administration of Croatia.
Croatian experience in security and humanitarian spheres, reintegration and comprehensive public dialogue are of a keen note to Ukraine.
The First Deputy Chairperson of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine outlined the state of affairs in Ukraine to the Croatian colleagues, having emphasized that a long-run truce in Donbas, a complete demilitarization of the occupied territories, and overall withdrawal of foreign arms and warlike equipment might become the clue to restoration of Ukraine’s territorial integrity.
The politician underscored that the Donbas clash settlement was to go on peacefully along with the use of political and diplomatic levers, though reinforcement and modernization of the Ukrainian armed forces hereat was to be a core factor.
“Renewal of Ukraine’s territorial integrity and sovereignty must go on through diplomacy. We need to make Russia with its stooges implement the Minsk accords,” underlined I.Herashchenko.
The First Vice-Speaker announced that the Minsk actors had agreed on August 23, 2017 upon a ‘school ceasefire’; she also reminded the above action had been pre-approved by the Ukrainian President and the Normandy format community. Still, it was only August 25 that the SRDLO deal-busters blew up the truce deliberately by shelling which resulted in several Ukrainian servicemen and civilians wounded.
S.Ozbolt, in her
turn, shared the Croatian independence war experience and underscored importance
of a peaceful reintegration. She also drew a close attention of those present to
the fact that Croatia had then carried out a full demilitarization of the lands
of conflict, established transition police units, piloted a set of refugee-return
projects, launched a step-by-step process of merging education, culture, health
care, utilities and transport infrastructures.
Local elections over occupied territories in transition period and a free-pardon law for combatants were, too, among the topics of the meeting's agenda. At the same time, the Croats refined that all the war-crime doers were sentenced by ad hoc tribunals with no amnesty applied.