Ukrainian delegate to TCG tells why Russia not interested in Normandy Four talks

Serhiy Harmash, Ukraine’s delegate to the Trilateral Contact Group, representing certain areas of Donetsk and Luhansk regions, spoke on the issue with Dom TV.

"There is absolutely no strategic interest on the part of Russia in the effective work of the Normandy format. Because there is no ORDLO (certain areas of Donetsk and Luhansk regions) represented in the Normandy format,” the delegate reported.

Harmash said that at a TCG meeting on Wednesday the negotiators spent eight hours discussing the possibility of concluding another truce and reinstating full ceasefire. The delegate stressed the fact that the Ukrainian had set no conditions to this end.

"But the representatives of Russia and ‘ORDLO’ constantly set us some conditions,” Harmash noted, adding that the main one is for Ukraine to recognize ORDLO a party to the conflict.

Harmash stressed that “when people want peace, they don’t set conditions.”

“Therefore, I see no particular shifts in Russia's stance on resolving the conflict in Donbas, unfortunately. And I don’t think any are possible today on the part Ukraine. That’s because they only issue ultimatums."

According to Harmash, the opponents often show outright arrogance within the TCG negotiating platform. In such situations, the envoy added, the Ukrainian side adheres to diplomatic tact.

However, Harmash noted, at the latest TCG meeting, counterparts acted rather delicately: "It seems as if they think someone is watching them, perhaps."

"So everything we can do, we do, and even more, often stepping over our own pride, but to preserve our national interests, for the sake of peace. As of the rest, as our President once said, the ball is on Moscow's pitch. That is, the key to peace, in fact, is in the Kremlin," the Ukrainian delegate to the Trilateral Contact Group concluded.

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