Leader of Ukrainian opposition parliamentary faction Batkivschyna Arseniy Yatseniuk believes it would be premature to involve the UN or the OSCE to help settle the political conflict in Ukraine, although these organizations have offered such assistance.
In particular, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon reaffirmed the offer at a meeting with a group of Ukrainian opposition members including Yatseniuk, UDAR party leader Vitali Klitschko, and unaffiliated parliamentarian Petro Poroshenko on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference on Saturday, Yatseniuk told Interfax-Ukraine following the meeting.
“But we believe that, at the present stage, the situation in Ukraine should be settled primarily through our direct contacts, between Ukraine and our Western partners. Such options as the OSCE and the UN do exist, but these options should be involved if the situation becomes absolutely hopeless,” Yatseniuk said.
The situation should be settled “at the bilateral level, namely by engaging our European and American partners,” Yatseniuk said.
Asked by Interfax-Ukraine whether Russia could be involved in this process, Yatseniuk noted that, “as far as I understand, [Russia] is holding consultations with the Ukrainian government, although not publicly.”
“Therefore, we are calling on Russia to pursue a transparent policy in our bilateral relations,” he said.
