03 June 2019, 22:00
During the meeting of the Conciliation Board on June 3, the First Deputy Chairperson of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine (first vice-speaker) Iryna Herashchenko submitted her comments on the speeches of some representatives of parliamentary factions about would-be peace negotiations on the settlement of the situation in eastern Ukraine and the implementation of the Minsk agreements by the parties.
Iryna Herashchenko noted that those politicians who called upon "to hear the speaker of the Russian State Duma and begin talks with the Russian Federation from a blank slate”, do thus play up to Russia and Russian politicians, who are directly involved in the annexation of the Crimea and the occupation of the Donbas.
"The Russian Federation seeks to cancel the Minsk accords with our own hands, as the sanctions are solidly tied to them. The Minsk process is now in a deep stagnation - definitely not through Ukraine’s position - but only because of the Kremlin's destructive actions," she said.
The politician reminded that chiefly thanks to the work of the TCG’s humanitarian subgroup it became possible to release some 150 hostages and political prisoners of the Kremlin in 2015. Iryna Herashchenko also underlined an important role of the SBU in releasing the prisoners.
"To those politicians, who for years of the Russian aggression have never been interested in and never dealt with these problems, it is impossible to understand the complexity of the negotiations and those grievous efforts aimed at releasing the captives from the occupied territories of Ukraine and from Russia," I. Herashchenko emphasized.
Iryna Herashchenko then reminded that on May 24 there took place a constitutive meeting of experts from the humanitarian sub-group with the President of Ukraine V. Zelenskyi, where the latter was informed in detail about the talks and positions defended by Ukrainian negotiators.
The politician recalled that on May 25, 2019 the previously mentioned United Nations International Tribunal ordered Russia to immediately release the Ukrainian sailors and ships that had been captured near the Kerch Strait, and ensure their return to Ukraine.
"During the PACE June session, we will draw special attention of the Assembly onto the fact that the Russian Federation has not complied with the International Tribunal’s decision on the release of 24 prisoners of war," I. Herashchenko said.
During her speech, she also urged the President of Ukraine V. Zelenskyi to urgently address the President of the Russian Federation concerning the implementation of the above decision.
The first vice-speaker also expressed her hope that the release of hostages, the Kremlin’s political prisoners and prisoners of war would be key issues during the first overseas visit of the President of Ukraine V. Zelenskyi to the European Union and NATO bodies in Brussels on June 4-5.