Ukraine's Special Representative for the Middle East Yevhen Mykytenko has visited a group of Ukrainian citizens detained in Libya, Ukrainian Foreign Ministry's spokesman Oleksandr Dykusarov said at a briefing on Tuesday.
Mykytenko was on a working visit to Tripoli on Jan. 10-12, 2012, during which he met with officials from the Libyan Foreign Ministry, Defense Ministry, and General Staff of the Armed Forces, as well as with representatives of the National Transitional Council of Libya and leadership of revolutionary teams that are detaining the Ukrainian citizens.
During the meetings with the Libyan officials, the parties discussed bilateral cooperation, and in particular agreed to exchange visits of government officials from the two countries, Dykusarov said.
Mykytenko also visited the places where Ukrainian citizens are being held and talked with them.
The envoy told the Ukrainians about the steps being taken by the authorities to release them and bring them home, the press secretary said.
News emerged on Sept. 5, 2011, that more than 20 Ukrainian nationals had been detained in Libya.
All of them are civilian specialists who came to Libya to work in local oil-industry facilities.
At the end of October 2011, Verkhovna Rada Commissioner for Human Right Nina Karpachova said that mutual understanding had been reached with the representatives of the Libyan National Transitional Council concerning the speedy repatriation of all arrested Ukrainians.
Director of the Consular Service Department of the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry Andriy Olefirov said in early December 2011 that there was no proof of wrongdoing by the detained Ukrainians and that their Libyan colleagues had officially recognized this.
According to the Foreign Ministry, diplomats regularly visit the Ukrainians.
They are supplying necessary products, means for personal care and also give Ukrainians the possibility to communicate with their relatives by phone.
