Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksiy ReznikovKIEV, Feb. 3Kiev is ready for negotiations of the trilateral contact group on Donbass in Istanbul, as well as in any other place, but this requires the consent of the other side, Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov said on Thursday. Earlier, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said that Turkey was ready to host meeting of the Russian Federation and Ukraine in the «Minsk» format, Ankara is ready to provide support. A source in the Turkish Foreign Ministry also said that the Turkish side plans to organize negotiations on the Minsk agreements in Istanbul with the participation of «the same players as before: Russia, Ukraine, representatives from Donbass and the OSCE.» The plenipotentiary of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic in the contact group, the head of the DPR Foreign Ministry, Natalia Nikonorova, said that in order to negotiate the Donbass in Turkey, the issue of ensuring the security of the representatives of Donetsk and Lugansk must be resolved.
The LPR questioned the safety of the proposed negotiations in IstanbulAccording to Reznikov, the Turkish President publicly made such a proposal and consultations were held with Kiev on the transfer of the negotiation site to Istanbul. «We answered in the affirmative: yes, we agree if this site is in Istanbul. The Ukrainian side is ready to negotiations in Istanbul, as well as in Geneva, Vienna and anywhere where there is no bias, most importantly, independence from one of the parties, namely from the Russian Federation. We will be ready, but the other side also needs to agree,» Reznikov said at a briefing. The Russian Foreign Ministry noted that Kiev sent half of the entire personnel of the armed forces of Ukraine to the Donbass. Moscow expressed concern about the transfer of military equipment from NATO countries to the Russian borders and the increase in the number of Western instructors in the Donbass. Western countries continue to provide military support to Ukraine, including by supplying weapons that are used in the Donbass. disagreements
