Updated on 03:21 p.m. Moscow Time
MINSK, September 5 (RIA Novosti) – Russian Ambassador to Ukraine Mikhail Zurabov believes that the contact group on settling the Ukrainian crisis will sign agreements later on Friday in Minsk, Belarus.
In answering a question by journalists whether any sort of documents would be signed at the meeting, Zurabov said “There would.”
The meeting of the contact group on Ukrainian reconciliation, comprising Russia, the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), Ukrainian authorities and eastern Ukraine’s independence supporters, are taking place at the President Hotel in the Belarusian capital.
The contact group met earlier on July 31 and September 1, and during Friday’s meeting on September 5, the participants are expected to sign 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.
