13 August 2020, Thursday, 18:17 107

August 18 TCG Meeting Will Be Held Online, Shift Of Venue From Minsk Due To Situation In Belarus Not Yet Considered – Kravchuk

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Даша Зубкова

The first meeting of the Trilateral Contact Group on resolution of the conflict in the Donbas (Ukraine, Russia, and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe) to be attended by former president Leonid Kravchuk, who is the newly appointed head of the Ukrainian delegation to the group, will take place on August 18 via a videoconference, and the option of moving the venue for the group’s in-person meetings because of the situation in Belarus has not yet been considered, although it is possible.

Kravchuk stated this in an interview with Ukrainian Radio, the Ukrainian News Agency reports.

"There will be a videoconference on August 18," he said.

According to him, the issue of exchange of detainees will be discussed at the meeting.

"I think that the question will not only be raised, but we will know exactly how many people will be exchanged from our side and from their side," he said.

Kravchuk confirmed that former prime minister Viktor Fokin (1991-1992) has agreed to join the Ukrainian delegation to the Trilateral Contact Group.

According to him, the current mass protests in Belarus are not yet affecting the work of the Trilateral Contact Group, but the possibility of finding a new venue for negotiations exists.

“The Belarusian people will resolve this issue without us. Let them decide. We cannot interfere in their internal affairs. Belarus does not participate in the Trilateral Contact Group. It only created an opportunity for us to work there. There will be opportunities for such work when we arrive there, and we will look for a new place if it suddenly no longer exists," he said.

According to Kravchuk, one of the possible venues for the negotiations is Sweden, which is a neutral country.

"Such a possibility exists, but for now, I hope that everything will work out," he said.

As Ukrainian News Agency earlier reported, former president (1994-2005) Leonid Kuchma decided to step down as the head of Ukraine’s delegation to the Trilateral Contact Group on July 28.

Kuchma represented Ukraine in the Trilateral Contact Group from 2014 to 2018. He again led the Ukrainian delegation to talks in the Trilateral Contact Group in Minsk (Belarus) in June 2019 at the request of President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

Zelenskyy appointed Kravchuk to replace Kuchma as the head of the Ukrainian delegation to the Trilateral Contact Group on July 30.

Zelenskyy approved the new composition of the Ukrainian delegation to the Trilateral Contact Group on May 5 and appointed Deputy Prime Minister/Minister for Reintegration of Temporarily Occupied Territories Oleksii Reznikov as the first deputy head of the delegation.

Reznikov was previously Ukraine's representative in the Trilateral Contact Group’s subgroup on political issues.

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