Former Ukrainian ombudsman Lutkovska to lead humanitarian subgroup in Minsk - its ex-head
KYIV. June 3 (Interfax) - Iryna Herashchenko, the first deputy speaker of the Verkhovna Rada, said that it is likely that former Ukrainian Human Rights Commissioner Valeria Lutkovska would head Ukraine's humanitarian subgroup of the Trilateral Contact Group in Minsk.
"The presidential administration informed that Valeria Lutkovska attended a meeting with [Ukraine's] re-appointed head of the Contract Group [Leonid] Kuchma in addition to all previous participants in the subgroups (Oleksand Motsik, Ihor Veremiy, and Bohdan Bondar) today. She also attended the meeting of our humanitarian subgroup with President [Volodymyr] Zelensky several days ago. As far as I can understand, [she] will be in charge of the humanitarian bloc, the release [of captives and hostages]. I welcome this appointment; we involved Ms. Lutkvoska as an ombudsman in the group's work in the capacity of an expert at some point and we worked together on the verification of prisoners," Herashchenko posted on her Facebook page on Monday.
The Minsk Group's composition "remains virtually the same as [...] four years ago," she said.
"It only confirms that there are quite a few actual negotiators capable of maintaining a difficult dialogue with the Russian Federation and international partners in the country. [...] The fact that the new president has not changed the negotiating team only confirms that Poroshenko determined a strong group that fought for Ukraine in his time," Herashchenko said.
President Zelensky earlier said that Leonid Kuchma will again head the Ukrainian delegation to the Trilateral Contact Group on the settlement of the situation in Donbas. The meeting of the group is slated for June 5.
Herashchenko was previously the Ukrainian president's envoy to the Donbas negotiations and headed the humanitarian subgroup in Minsk. She tendered her resignation after Zelensky's victory in the election.