Reznikov, Schmid discuss situation in eastern Ukraine

Ukraine's Deputy Prime Minister, Minister for Reintegration of Temporarily Occupied Territories of Ukraine Oleksiy Reznikov has met with OSCE Secretary General Helga Schmid to discuss a number of pressing issues related to the temporary occupation of Ukraine's territories by Russia, the Ministry for Reintegration of Temporarily Occupied Territories of Ukraine has reported.

"We are grateful for the support of the OSCE as the chief peacemaker and coordinator in these difficult negotiations, and we hope for such support in the future. We understand the difficult conditions in which the OSCE Mission operates and we are ready to declare our support for both the Mission and the Office of the Special Representative of the OSCE SMM," Reznikov said.

He also spoke about Ukraine's steps in the framework of reintegration and stressed Ukraine's unchanging position on its consistency and commitment to the implementation of the Minsk agreements.

"Work is currently underway to establish the Ukrainian National Peacebuilding Center, the main task of which will be to create a database on human rights violations related to Russian aggression in the temporarily occupied territories. Moreover, one of the tasks of the center will be to establish a national dialogue, which is a very important issue. The second important thing is to finalize a bill on the state policy of the transition period, which will take into account the fundamental principles of the UN on transitional justice. I would like to emphasize that the preparation of the bill and the plan for its adoption by the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine is in no way a rejection or waiver of the Minsk agreements. We have sent the bill to the G7 embassies for consideration, and above all to Germany and France as members of the Normandy Four. We plan to send the document to the Venice Commission, and we definitely want to involve OSCE/ODIHR in the consultations. We would like to actively discuss the bill with our international partners in a completely transparent manner," Reznikov said.

Schmid, in turn, emphasized the importance of resolving the issue of free movement of people across the line of contact. The meeting was also attended by Chief Monitor of the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission to Ukraine, Ambassador Yasar Halit Cevik.

Reznikov is on an official visit to Brussels on May 27-28.

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