On January 25, the opening of the International Festival of Donbass Youth was held in the Donetsk hotel complex Shakhtar Plaza. The event was attended by the Chairman of the DPR People's Council Denis Pushilin. 

One of the priority issues on the agenda of the Contact Group's work in Minsk for 2018 the OSCE SMM calls anti-mine activity.

At the time of the meeting in Minsk, the Ukrainian representatives did not quite understand what the final version of the “Reintegration” law would look like. This was stated by the Chairman of the DPR People’s Council, the permanent plenipotentiary representative of the DPR in the Contact group’s negotiations in Minsk Denis Pushilin in “Without ties” TV programme on “Oplot TV” channel.

The Chairman of the DPR People’s Council Denis Pushilin commented to the Donetsk News Agency the adoption by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe of a resolution on the humanitarian consequences of the war in Donbass. This document contains a requirement for Ukraine to review the “Reintegration” law.

At the end of 2017, Ukraine by absolutely unacceptable measures basically knocked out representatives of Russia from the Joint Center for the Control and Coordination of the ceasefire regime by which it actually destroyed the work of the only body where the interaction of the parties was still maintained with the mediation efforts of Russian officers.

The wording that was enshrined in the law on 'reintegration' has been heard since 2014 both in our address and Russia's, the Permanent Representative of the DPR at the talks of the Contact Group in Minsk, the Chairman of the DPR People's Council, Denis Pushilin, noted on the air of the Russian TV channel "Russia-24".

The “Reintegration” law adopted in Ukraine can be called outrageous, as it is aimed at attracting attention of the international community to the Ukrainian subject, as well as to reduce domestic problems. It was stated by the Chairman of the DPR People’s Council Denis Pushilin in the “Sunday Night with Vladimir Solovyov” programme on “Russia-24” TV channel.

The shooting at a bus, whose passengers were peaceful civilians, the death and injury of innocent people, cannot be called anything but a criminal and outrageous provocation.

As a person immersed in the negotiation process, I can say with certainty that the place of negotiations is secondary.

On January 18, the first in 2018 meeting of the Contact Group took place in Minsk. The agenda of the meeting included issues of the exchange of prisoners, the observance of the ceasefire, the implementation of agreements on the withdrawal of prohibited weapons and the disengagement of forces and facilities.