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Putin slams idea to forego forum in Minsk as dodging Donbass problem resolution

Earlier on Thursday, Putin held talks with Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko

MOSCOW, April 22. /TASS/. Proposals to move the Contact Group for Donbass meetings away from Minsk resemble attempts to evade looking for a real solution to problems, Russian President Vladimir Putin said Thursday during talks with Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko.

"Belarus simply provided a forum for us and does not interfere in this process at all. It created work conditions for those who want to look for solutions to problems," Putin said.

"However, if someone does not want to do that, then I believe you can always find reasons not to work in this very important sphere. It seems that it is a search for such reasons to dodge discussing Donbass problems and bury them [Minsk Agreements] once and for all," the leader underlined.

Earlier, head of Kiev’s delegation in the Contact Group and first Ukrainian President Leonid Kravchuk said that he does not rule out the possibility that the forum for settlement talks will be transferred from Belarus to "a neutral and democratic country" if it becomes no longer possible to hold dialogue in Minsk due to protests that ensued after the presidential elections held last August.

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