DPR supports UN Secretary General’s call for global ceasefire amid COVID-19 threat

Donetsk, Mar 24 – DAN. The Donetsk People’s Republic Foreign Ministry supported the UN Secretary General’s appeal for global ceasefire due to the the new coronavirus infection pandemic, DPR representative to the Contact Group, the Republic’s Foreign Minister Natalia Nikonorova said on Tuesday.

On Monday, UN Secretary-General António Guterres urged the warring parties across the world to stop fighting in the face of the spreading pandemic.

“When dozens of thousand people contact the COVID-19 infection every day and thousands die, we fully support the position of the UN secretary general and also call for global ceasefire and getting the peace  back on track,” Nikonorova said in comments received by the Donetsk News Agency. “Under such circumstances, the countries have to be fully focused on preserving the lives and health of their citizens, not on carrying on the existing conflicts.”

The DPR is making all efforts towards a peaceful settlement in Donbass, but one-sided actions are insufficient for full-fledged truce. Ukraine has to fulfil all the commitments it undertook within the framework of the Minsk process, she said.

“It is particularly important at present, which is a hard time for the whole planet. So we insist that Ukrainian representatives have a serious and conscientious attitude to their commitments under the peace accords signed in Minsk as well as to the indefinite ceasefire and additional ceasefire control measures,” the DPR diplomat said.

The Agreements dated September 5 and 19, 2014 and February 12, 2015 forged by the Contact Group in Minsk make groundwork for a peaceful settlement of the Donbass conflict. The Contact Group set forth a peace plan and agreed a ceasefire, then adopted the Memorandum on ceasefire implementation and later on the Package of Measures for the Implementation of the Minsk Agreements.

The Donbass peace talks on March 24 to March 26 take place in the format of video conference amid the spreading of COVID-19. On Tuesday, negotiations are planned at the subgroups for political and security issues.*jk

Related

New round of Minsk talks scheduled on March 24-26 via video call

DPR Head welcomes plan to set up platform for Donbass-Ukraine direct dialogue

Contact Group agrees to establish new ground for direct bilateral talks

Donetsk water treatment plant among possible disengagement areas – Nikonorova