MOSCOW (Sputnik) – Moscow opposes attempts to "dilute" the format of the Contact Group on Ukraine reconciliation by adding experts to it, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Monday.
"We are against 'diluting' the contact group format… by adding some left-field experts who no one has ever heard of," he told journalists following a meeting with his Chilean counterpart, Heraldo Munoz.
A parliamentary contact group was set up by the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) in summer 2014 at the request of the Russian delegation. Its main objective was to bridge the gap between the Ukrainian government and opposition in the country's southeast amid escalating hostilities.
Members of the group from Ukraine, Russia and the OSCE met twice to hammer out important ceasefire agreements in September 2014 and in February 2015. The latest deal is believed to be largely holding, though both sides to the conflict have traded blame for violations of the truce.
