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Putin’s representative en route to airport, to take flight to Kiev

MOSCOW, February 20. /ITAR-TASS/. Russia’s ombudsman for human rights Vladimir Lukin, whom President Vladimir Putin has delegated to Kiev to take part in the talks between the Ukrainian authorities and the opposition on defusing the acute political crisis, is already en route to the airport, sources have told Itar-Tass.

Putin’s press secretary Dmitry Peskov said earlier in the day that Putin had had a telephone conversation with the Ukrainian President, Viktor Yanukovich.

“At the initiative of the Ukrainian side, President Putin had a telephone conversation with President Yanukovich today, in the course of which Yanukovich asked him to send a Russian representative to Kiev for taking part in the negotiations between the authorities and the opposition,” Peskov said.

“The Russian President has taken a decision to delegate Vladimir Petrovich Lukin, the Russian ombudsman for human rights who is known to have rich experience as a diplomat, who enjoys respect among human rights activists and who was a leader of a large opposition party in Russia [Yabloko],” he said.

At the time of reporting, Itar-Tass did not have any comments from Vladimir Lukin.

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