PRESS RELEASE
Arms Withdrawal Agreement Announced in Ukraine
Sept. 21, 2016 (EIRNS)—Darka Olifer, the press secretary for former Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma, announced today that the Trilateral Contact Group of Ukraine, Russia, and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe had reached an agreement on withdrawing forces and heavy weapons from three areas along the line of contact between the government and the independence forces in the Donbass region of southeast Ukraine.
"The document implies de-escalation around the contact line and actually creates the conditions under which small arms cannot be used for attacks," Olifer wrote on her facebook page, reports Ukraine Today.
"At the same time, the framework decision provides for full implementation of the previous agreements of the Trilateral Contact Group on withdrawal of all weapons of the caliber less than 100 mm."
She stressed that the pullback only applies to three sites, but the Ukrainian side believes that the implementation of the agreement is the first step to the full withdrawal of forces along the whole contact line.
According to Associated Press, the agreement follows the visit, last week, of the French and German foreign ministers to Kiev, to try to revive the peace agreement.
