MINSK (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 20th April, 2021) Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko said on Tuesday that if relocation of Donbas settlement talks from Minsk to another city is useful, then the Belarusian side would only welcome such a move.
In August, Leonid Kravchuk, Ukraine's ex-president and the head of Kiev's delegation in the Trilateral Contact Group, expressed the belief that Sweden could become a new venue for negotiations in light of protests in Belarus. Earlier in April, Minister for Reintegration of the Temporarily Occupied Territories of Ukraine Oleksii Reznikov said Kiev would no longer send its delegations to Minsk, as it lost confidence in Belarus over its alleged exposure to Russia's influence.
"They say that there is a desire to move to another place. Well, at least the leadership and Kravchuk. For God's sake. If it is useful and beneficial for Ukraine, we will only welcome," Lukashenko said during a meeting with Ukrainian lawmaker Yevgeniy Shevchenko, as quoted by the state Belta broadcaster.
At the same time, Lukashenko said that calls to relocate talks from Minsk are a "political mayhem."
"I don't understand why go to distant lands ...Why do this? This is purely political mayhem. But, believe me, we don't really care about this. It is simply a pity for Ukraine that this process may be delayed or even collapse. You don't need to do this," the Belarusian president said.
