Poroshenko, Putin agree to Medvedchuk's mediation

Such a proposal by German Federal Chancellor Angela Merkel was accepted by Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko, French President Francois Hollande and Russian President Vladimir Putin during a telephone conversation in a quadripartite format on Wednesday.

"The German federal chancellor proposed that Medvedchuk fulfill the functions of a mediator to ensure the work of the trilateral contact group consisting of [second Ukrainian President Leonid] Kuchma, [envoy of the OSCE chairperson-in-office Heidi] Tagliavini and [Russian Ambassador to Ukraine Mikhail] Zurabov. The Ukrainian president and other participants in the conversation accepted Angela Merkel's proposal," the press service of the Ukrainian president reported.

Poroshenko informed his interlocutors about the serious violations recorded during the ceasefire he unilaterally declared. In particular, the president said that 52 cases of violations of the ceasefire by terrorists, in which 18 people were killed and 27 injured, had been recorded since June 20.

The Russian leader supported Poroshenko's proposal on the introduction of the regime of the ceasefire and its monitoring.

Poroshenko said that the implementation of the peace plan and ensuring control over the whole perimeter of the border was possible in the presence of OSCE observers, along with representatives of Russia. He also noted that the Russian Federation Council's decision to cancel the permit for the use of Russian troops in Ukraine was a positive signal on the road to implementing the peace plan.

He said that Ukraine expected Russia to take real measures that will help further stabilize the situation in the Donbas. Poroshenko urged Putin to take concrete steps to stop the supply of arms and equipment to militants across the Ukrainian border.

Following the talk, the German chancellor proposed supporting such joint steps: ensuring the system of monitoring with elements of control (concerns roadblocks and the transfer of checkpoints on the Ukrainian-Russian border) involving OSCE observers, including representatives of Russia, at the time of the ceasefire; continuing negotiations of the trilateral contact group on June 26 this year; exchanging lists of hostages, and Russia's publicly calling for the release of all hostages.

The parties agreed to continue the conversation in this format on Thursday, June 26.

ap