Expert: Participants of Russia-Ukraine meeting have their own secrets

“Call later, please. Nobody can comment on it at the moment. The meetings have already begun,” it took me four attempts to find out want was being discussed at the meeting announced at the Ukrainian Embassy to Minsk.

They did not tell me anything else. Neither the place, nor the time was announced. Even Ukrainian delegates’ names were kept a secret. The Ukrainian and Belarusian Ministries of Foreign Affairs presented no information either. The Russian Embassy reported very little. It only confirmed that the Russian Ambassador to Ukraine had arrived in Minsk.

According to semi-official sources, Kiev is presented by Ukrainian ex-President Leonid Kuchma. Journalists of Komsomolskaya Pravda in Belarus noticed a motorcade of four cars accompanied by police cars near the state residence Zaslauye in the afternoon. Russian TV channel Russia 24 reported that the meeting was being held near Zaslauye Storage Pond.

The meeting in Minsk cannot be called negotiations, international observer Raman Yakauleuski thinks. It is only a contact. The representatives of the so-called DPR and LPR cannot be considered competent participants.

“Kiev does not consider the bandits to be a subject of negotiations. The separatists are under the OSCE aegis at the moment. This is the matter,” Yakauleuski said.

Official comments on the meeting in Zaslauye may appear later (if they do), the expert explained. They will most likely be presented by Belarus. Some information may also appear in the main Russian mass media. The meeting is so secret because both sides have something to hide from the public, Raman Yakauleuski thinks.

“The meetings are being held behind closed doors because there is something to hide. I believe there is. It is not even clear whether separatists have arrived at Zaslauye or not. They probably have.”

Separatists’ reluctance to cover their participation in the negotiations is also understandable. Nevertheless, so-called DPR PM Vladimir Borodai reported on July 30 that his people were going to agree on exchange of captives with Ukraine in Minsk.

We will soon see whether Kiev will agree to it and if the meeting in Zaslauye will turn into real Ukraine-Russia negotiations. Experts do not think that the meeting will be long.

Photo: kp.by