MINSK - Former Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma, Russia's Ambassador to Ukraine Mikhail Zurabov, and OSCE representative Heidi Tagliavini arrived in Minsk on Jan. 31 to take part in negotiations of the Trilateral Contact Group on Ukraine.
Kuchma, Zurabov, and Tagliavini passed through the airport’s VIP
hall, got into a motorcade, and left the airport territory, an Interfax
correspondent reported.
Meanwhile, a source from a group preparing the meeting told Interfax
that Kuchma intended to meet only with those who had earlier signed the
Minsk memorandum for the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Luhansk people’s
republics (DPR and LPR), that is, their leaders Oleksandr Zakharchenko
and Ihor Plotnytsky.
“If they don’t come, Leonid Kuchma might leave Minsk and fly back to Kyiv,” the source said.
Denis Pushilin, the DPR envoy to the Minsk talks, had said earlier on
Jan. 31 that he possessed information indicating that Ukrainian
President Petro Poroshenko had appointed Kuchma as Kyiv’s official
representative in the talks.
“There is information indicating that Poroshenko has appointed Kuchma
his official representative in the negotiations in Minsk. However, we
are waiting for official confirmation and an official document,” he
said.
“If this information proves true, then there is the hope for Kyiv’s reasonability,” Pushilin said.
