Moscow defied the inititative for Paschal ceasefire in Donbas

Representatives of the Russian Federation refused to support the initiative of Ukraine to declare a ceasefire in Donbas on the occasion of Easter festivities.

This was stated on Facebook's page by First Deputy Speaker of the Verkhovna Rada, a representative of Ukraine in the humanitarian subgroup of the Trilateral Contact Group on the settlement of the situation in Donbas, Iryna Gerashchenko, when she notified about the videoconference of TCG, according toUNIAN.

She stated that the skype conference of TCG and the security subgroup lasted 6 hours and was part of the discussion of the Easter Truce Initiative. “The negotiations have just ended, and Russia has refused to support the initiative of Ukraine to declare a truce for the holiday, refused to take responsibility for maintaining the silence regime in Donbas,” Gerashchenko emphasized.

She reminded that during the visit of President Petro Poroshenko to Berlin and Paris, where he met with German Chancellor Angela Merkel and President of France Emmanuel Macron, leaders of the “Normandy format" supported the initiative to declare a silence regime and Easter truce, as agreed at the last meeting in Minsk.

"The representative of the Russian Federation in the TCG Boris Gryzlov did not appear at the Skype conference, the Russian side was represented by the diplomat Azamat Kulmukhametov. Russia categorically refused to assume the guarantees of compliance with the silence regime, reiterating the Kremlin's theses on civil war, internal conflict and the necessity of “direct dialogue” with ORDLO. The Russian Federation does not change its tactics, neither the election race in Ukraine and its possible consequences make it concede,” Gerashchenko emphasized.

“The truce should have come into force on April 19. The representative of Ukraine in the TCG Yevhen Marchuk accused Russia and its President Vladimir Putin of breaking the agreements, who are not interested in de-escalation and end of the war in Donbas. There is no signal that the Russian Federation is ready to change the position, on the contrary, is waiting for the weakening of Ukraine and it does everything for it,” the MP said.