Minsk - Belarus is not going to act as a mediator in the settlement of the crisis in the neighboring Ukraine, but is interested in prompt normalization of the situation there, Belarusian Deputy Foreign Minister Valentin Rybakov told reporters in Minsk on Wednesday, July 30.
“The president of Belarus said more than once that Belarus is not
looking to become a mediator in the settlement of the crisis in
brotherly Ukraine,” he said.
“However, everything will be done to ensure that the situation in that country normalizes as soon as possible,” he said.
Rybakov said that “I hope the actions that began yesterday will
continue and will help normalize the situation there [in Ukraine] as
soon as possible.”
According to earlier reports, Belarusian President Alexander
Lukashenko and Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko had a phone
conversation on Tuesday evening, July 29.
“The Ukrainian president asked the Belarusian president to make
Belarus a platform for negotiations involving all relevant parties on
the solution to the Ukrainian crisis. Alexander Lukashenko agreed with
that initiative,” the Belarusian presidential press service reported.
The Ukrainian presidential press service has reported that Poroshenko
has asked Lukashenko to help arrange a meeting in Minsk on July 31 of
the trilateral contact group on the settlement of the situation in
Donbas, involving Ukraine’s second president Leonid Kuchma, Russian
Ambassador Mikhail Zurabov, and a representative of the OSCE.
