Gryzlov commented on the exchange of prisoners in the Donbass

The next meeting of the contact group on settlement in the East of Ukraine which took place Wednesday via videoconference, did not differ in effectiveness. It is stated after the meeting the Ambassador of Russia Boris Gryzlov.

"last week, Kiev and the Donbass held an exchange of mutual release of the detained persons. In the Donetsk and Luhansk could return 14 people on the Kiev side to 20 people, – he reminded. A mutual exchange could take place much earlier. If the necessary lessons are learned, the further agreement of Kiev and the Donbas can be achieved and implemented more quickly. Today, however, due to the unconstructive position of Kiev, this did not happen".

A particularly difficult situation, according to Gryzlov, has developed in the political subgroup and the subgroup on safety.

"Even in the day of the exchange, the release of detained persons recorded a new shelling from the APU, he said. – Previously, on the contact line between Kiev and Donbass was possible to provide days of silence, now violations of the ceasefire occur daily. In fact, the Kiev side undermines a real opportunity to improve the situation in the region".

"If to speak about the agenda of today’s video conferencing, its implementation was extremely low, said the Russian envoy. – Kiev side did not submit to the contact group on Donbass agreed with the policy documents that were supposed to prepare and submit. Kiev refuses to provide even a list of issues for resolution of the political conflict and his vision of their approval. It looks strange against the background of constant public statements of Kiev about the commitment to the Minsk process".

"because of the position of the Kiev delegation no decisions on security issues remain unreconciled new areas of breeding capabilities. For the same reason, not coordinated steps to restore socio-economic relations of Kiev and the Donbass," concluded Gryzlov.