LPR and DPR call on OSCE to contribute to ensuring public experts’ access to objects of high environmental and technological hazards and critical infrastructure sites

As a part of today’s meeting of the subgroup on humanitarian affairs and the meeting of the Contact group, there was held a presentation of the humanitarian programme for the reunification of Donbass people, presented earlier by the Heads of the Donetsk People’s Republic Alexander Zakharchenko and the Lugansk People’s Republic Igor Plotnitsky.

In addition to providing medical and educational assistance, the provision of administrative and legal services, preservation of spiritual and cultural values, a significant part of the programme aims to ensure the environmental safety of a number of dangerous objects located on the territories temporarily uncontrollable by the Republics. All risks associated with operations, oversight, improper storage of hazardous reagents, modes of operation violations in these enterprises threaten Donbass on both sides of the demarcation line with environmental and technological disasters.

That is why we believe it is important to ensure the access of our non-governmental organizations to the enterprises and other facilities of critical infrastructure, which livelihoods of entire settlements, regions and municipalities, as stipulated by the programme depend on. Permanent and transparent control will ensure the environmental safety of Donbass.

We look forward to active support by the OSCE to organize access of NGOs to the objects of increased environmental and technological hazards and locations of critical infrastructure, taking into account our steps towards in terms of access to the territory of the Republic of both international and community organizations, including the Ukrainian.

Denis Pushilin, the permanent plenipotentiary representative of the DPR to the negotiations of the Contact group on the peaceful settlement of the conflict in Donbass

Vladislav Deynego, the permanent plenipotentiary representative of the LPR to the negotiations of the Contact group on the peaceful settlement of the conflict in Donbass