Kuchma: Ban on trade with Donbas may be revised after Russia returns seized assets

Photo from UNIAN A Ukrainian National Security and Defense Council decision to ban the transportation of goods across the contact line in Russia-occupied Donbas could be revised only after the return of Ukrainian assets seized by Russia in eastern Ukraine. "Only after Ukrainian assets are returned to Ukraine&#39;s legal framework, the decision of the National Security and Defense Council on introducing trade restrictions with regard to certain areas in Donetsk and Luhansk regions could be reviewed," Ukrainian envoy Leonid Kuchma&#39;s press secretary Darka Olifer quoted him as saying in her post on Facebook after a Trilateral Contact Group (TCG) meeting in Minsk on Wednesday, June 19. Read alsoLifting economic blockade off occupied Donbas means legalizing tax payments to terrorist entities: Lutsenko "All our work should be two-way movement, all processes should be based solely on reciprocity," he said. During a recent round of the Minsk talks on June 19, the Ukrainian side pointed to the inadmissibility of issuing Russian passports to residents of Ukraine&#39;s Donbas. In particular, the Ukrainian side says such actions are blocking the Minsk peace process and endangering the further process, Olifer said. According to her, to achieve substantial progress in the TCG&#39;s work, the political will of the Normandy Four leaders, namely the presidents of Russia, Ukraine, Germany and France, is needed, and their meeting could give a significant impetus to progress in all areas of the implementation of the Minsk peace agreements on Donbas. As UNIAN reported the Russian media on June 5 cited Special Representative of the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office in Ukraine and in the TCG, Ambassador Martin Sajdik, who said that the next TCG meeting would consider Kuchma&#39;s proposal to lift the trade blockade in Donbas.

Kuchma: Ban on trade with Donbas may be revised after Russia returns seized assets

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