Terrorist leader Purgin in Minsk?

The “deputy prime minister of the DNR” possibly represented separatists at the talks that were held in the Belarusian capital yesterday.

BelTA news agency reported yesterday that representatives of the so called “Donetsk People's Republic” (DNR) took part in a meeting of the contact group. A man resembling Andrei Purgin, the so called deputy PM of the self-proclaimed DNR, was noticed in a video from the talks in Zaslavl residence aired by ONT television channel.

An agreement on the exchange of captives was reached at the talks in Minsk. At the first stage, each side is supposed to release 20 people who were taken captive during hostilities in the Donbas region.

Interfax Ukraine news agency has learnt it from former president Leonid Kuchma, a participant of the talks. He added that captives would be released in the near future.

“Each side is supposed to release 20 people. It is unknown when it will happen, if at all,” the DNR's deputy PM Andrei Purgin said. He added he was not satisfied with the exchange scheme, because a possibility of exchanging “all for all” was discussed initially. He thinks the proposed scheme is an “excuse to leave the talks without results”. “Of course, this agreement cannot but arouse mistrust. The Ukrainian side is likely to just play for time,” the DNR's representative says.