Kravchuk does not yet see need to change venue of TCG meetings

Leonid Kravchuk, Ukraine’s 1st president and representative in the Trilateral Contact Group for the settlement of the situation in Donbas, does not yet see the need to change the venue for meetings of the Trilateral Contact Group due to the recent events in Belarus.

“Belarus does not take part in the Trilateral Contact Group. Belarus gave us the opportunity and created conditions for working there. When we get there, there will be opportunities for such work. If there is no such opportunity to hold meetings there [in Minsk], we will then look for another place. At first, there were no Minsk agreements. There were Geneva talks," Kravchuk said in an interview with Ukrainian Radio on Thursday.

According to him, if it is not possible to hold TCG meetings in Minsk, then we can take a completely neutral state, for example, Sweden. “We can ask them. This is possible,” Kravchuk said.

As Ukrinform reported, on July 30, President Volodymyr Zelensky dismissed by decree the second president of Ukraine, Leonid Kuchma, from the position of head of the Ukrainian delegation to the Trilateral Contact Group and appointed the first president of Ukraine, Leonid Kravchuk, to this post.

The next meeting of the Trilateral Contact Group in Minsk is scheduled for August 18.

The presidential election was held in Belarus on August 9. According to preliminary results announced by the Central Election Commission, incumbent President Alexander Lukashenko gained 80.23% of the vote, while opposition candidate Svetlana Tikhanovskaya got 9.90%.

On the night of Monday, August 10, protests against election fraud began in Belarusian cities. Security forces brutally dispersed the protesters with rubber bullets, stun grenades, and water cannons. About 6,000 people have been detained since the protests began. At least 250 people have been hospitalized.

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