MINSK, September 5 (RIA Novosti) – The contact group on settling the crisis in Ukraine with participants from Ukraine, Russia and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) has begun in the Belarusian capital of Minsk.
The contact group met earlier on July 31 and September 1, and during Friday’s meeting on September 5, the participants are expected to adopt a peace plan to gradually end the conflict in eastern Ukraine.
Ukraine will be represented at the meeting on Friday in Minsk by former Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma, Russia will be represented by the Russian Ambassador to Ukraine Mikhail Zurabov, and the OSCE will be represented by Heidi Tagliavini. The eastern Ukrainian republics of Donetsk and Luhansk will be represented by leaders Alexander Zakharchenko and Igor Plotnitsky respectively. The two leaders are also accompanied by Luhansk Parliament Chairman Alexei Karyakin and Donetsk Deputy Prime Minister Andrei Purgin.
On Thursday, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko announced the possible signing of a gradual peace plan during the meeting in Minsk and expressed his readiness to call for a ceasefire in the country’s east.
