The parties to the conflict in the Trilateral Contact Group on the peaceful settlement of the situation in Donbas have not changed; these are Ukraine and Russia.

Head of the Office of the President of Ukraine Andriy Yermak said this live on the Freedom of Speech talk show on Friday, March 13, according to an Ukrinform correspondent.

"The format of the Trilateral Contact Group has not changed. There are two parties to the conflict, Ukraine and Russia, and there is the OSCE between them," Yermak said.

At the same time, he stressed that the protocol, signed in Minsk on March 11, which envisages the creation of an Advisory Board involving representatives of the so-called Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics, is still a declaration and has no legal force.

According to him, a "document" on the specified board should be signed.

As reported, on March 11, a meeting of the Trilateral Contact Group (TCG) on the peaceful settlement of the situation in eastern Ukraine was held in Minsk. It was attended by Head of the Office of the President of Ukraine Andriy Yermak and Deputy Head of the Presidential Administration of the Russian Federation Dmitry Kozak. The parties agreed to establish the Advisory Board as part of the TCG political subgroup after consultations with representatives of the OSCE, the French Republic and the Federal Republic of Germany on the implementation of the agreements reached during the Normandy format summit.

According to Yermak, the parties took no steps that would create a legal basis for the recognition of ORDLO representatives.

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