President Volodymyr Zelensky has removed Roman Bezsmertny from the position of Ukraine’s representative in the working subgroup on political issues of the Trilateral Contact Group (TCG) to resolve the situation in Donbas.
The corresponding decree was signed on August, 13.
In the document, there is no explanation for the dismissal.
Kyiv should have suspend his participation in the Minsk negotiation process after the death of four soldiers in the east of the country, Roman Bezsmertny stated last week.
Volodymyr Zelensky authorized Roman Bezsmertny to represent Ukraine in the working group on political issues on July, 9. The politician gained experience when being part of the same group in 2015-2016.
Bezsmertny was a deputy of the Verkhovna Rada in 1994-2007 and Deputy Prime Minister of Ukraine (2005). Being Ambassador to Belarus, he was withdrawn from Minsk after his criticising president Alyaksandr Lukashenka for the brutal dispersal of the post-election protests in December, 2010.
In early June, Leonid Kuchma, Ukraine’s representative in the Trilateral Contact Group (TCG) on the peaceful settlement of the situation in Donbas, said that Ukraine might stop the blockade of separatist-controlled areas of Donetsk and Luhansk regions, but only after the return of Ukrainian assets seized by Russia in the east of the country.
In March 2017, Ukraine halted the economic contacts with the occupied areas in response to the capture of Ukrainian state-owned enterprises and the introduction of the Russian tax system.
