16 June 2016, 15:54
Verkhovna Rada First Deputy Chairperson / President's Envoy for Peaceful Settlement of the Situation in Donbas / Ukraine's representative in the humanitarian subgroup within the trilateral contact group for Donbas conflict settlement Iryna Heraschenko considers that the elections in Donetsk and Luhansk regions can take place only after the peace is restored in the region.
She said this delivering her speech at the meeting with the representatives of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly in Kyiv.
She noted the importance of the Minsk negotiations.
Iryna Heraschenko said the conflict in Donbas has escalated over the last month.
According to Ms. Heraschenko since early June, the Russia-supported militaries fired about 3,400 shells into the antiterrorist operation forces and in direction of different population centers. She stressed that the escalation is a result of the open Ukrainian-Russian border. She said it allows the militants receive new weaponry and ammunition without hindrance. She called extremely important to close the state border in Donbas.
Iryna Heraschenko appreciated the work of the humanitarian subgroup of the trilateral contact group, which has managed to release over 80 hostages and three Ukrainians from prisons on the territory of the Russian Federation (Nadiya Savchenko, Yurii Soloshenko and Hennadii Afanasiyev).
Iryna Heraschenko noted that the President Petro Poroshenko personally controls and coordinates the key work on release of the hostages.
The First Deputy Chairperson of the Ukrainian Parliament said the militants are currently blocking the process of release of at least 112 Ukrainian hostages: both civilians and military men.
She also expressed confidence that the European partners of Ukraine have to introduce the visa-free regime for our country. "Probably we are not a perfect student, but we would like to see the EU a responsible partner," she added. She said that Ukraine does not have any Item of the obligations on the visa-free regime unfulfilled and it does expect the EU to fulfill its part of the agreement.
Iryna Heraschenko also pointed to the considerable preconception of the report presented by the Secretary General of the Council of Europe Thorbjorn Jagland on the state of human rights in Europe. She said that the total of 104 pages of the report contain no word on the issue of Crimea and Donbas. "Can such a report be called objective and why only Ukraine calls unacceptable such serious things as concealing the conflict that is currently taking place on the European continent?" Heraschenko said.
The politicians also called any attempts to lift the sanctions against the Russian Federation unacceptable.
"In 2008, Germany and France blocked the signature of the Membership Action Plan with NATO for Ukraine hoping to calm down Russia. It was a mistake that let Russia attack Georgia, then Ukraine, annex Crimea and occupy Donbas. Ukraine pays high for that mistake. The EU also pays high trying to help Ukraine manage this externally imposed conflict. That's why it is very important not to repeat the mistakes and not to lift the sanctions against the Russian Federation unless the Minsk agreements are finally fulfilled," she said.