Tripartite Group Peace Talks on Donbas launched in Minsk

The trilateral meeting of the contact group to resolve the situation in the east of Ukraine began in Minsk

The meeting is attended by representatives of the so-called Donetsk People's Republic - Alexander Zakharchenko and Andrei Purgin as well as leaders of the so-called Luhansk People's Republic - Igor Plotnitskii and Aleksei Kariakin, Censor.NET reports citing BBC

Ukraine is represented by Leonid Kuchma like at previous meetings, the OSCE - by the OSCE Chairman on the settlement of the situation in Ukraine Heidi Tagliavini, Russia - by Ambassador Mikhail Zurabov.

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The meeting is held in the "President-Hotel" in the center of the Belarusian capital.

Mr. Kuchma said before the meeting that the main issue of the event will be a cease-fire in eastern Ukraine.

"We plan to discuss and sign a memorandum of the protocol on a cease-fire," Kuchma said.

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