Kiev will not enter into a direct dialogue with the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics (DPR and LPR), Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmitry Kuleba said at a joint conference with German Foreign Minister Annalena Berbock following the talks in Kiev. Broadcast available on the Facebook page of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine.
Such actions are not provided for by the Minsk agreements, Kuleba noted, emphasizing that the demand for direct dialogue with the DPR and LPR is exclusively in the interest of Russia. According to the minister, in this way Moscow is trying to abandon the status of a direct participant in the conflict and become a mediator of the opposing sides. The Russian authorities have repeatedly stated that they are not taking part in the conflict in eastern Ukraine.
The head of the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry also pointed out that this decision is one of the “red lines” for Ukraine, from which the country will not back down under any circumstances. In addition to refusing direct dialogue with the DPR and LPR, Kiev also refuses to make concessions regarding the territorial integrity of Ukraine within its internationally recognized borders.
“And thirdly, I stressed that the Ukrainian people will always be a source of decisions regarding the foreign policy of our state and no one can impose where we should move in foreign policy and what we should do,” Kuleba said.
Zelensky expressed dissatisfaction with all the clauses of the Minsk agreements