KIEV, March 2. /TASS/. The Ukrainian delegation has not yet arrived in Belovezhskaya Pushcha in Belarus where negotiations with the Russian representatives will take place and urged the Russian side to wait for the real start of the dialogue, Ukraine’s presidential office adviser Mikhail Podolyak said on Wednesday.
"It is doubtful that without the presence of the other [Ukrainian] side at the negotiating table, negotiations can really take place. So just wait for the real beginning of the dialogue," he said on his Twitter.
The Russian delegation has already arrived in Belovezhskaya Pushcha. According to Russia’s chief negotiator Vladimir Medinsky, the Ukrainian delegation is already on its way to negotiations, their arrival is expected on March 3.
"As far as I know, the Ukrainian delegation has already left Kiev and is on its way now. <...> We are waiting for them tomorrow," the chief negotiator noted.
The Russian delegation arrived for talks with the Ukrainian side in the same composition. In addition to Vladimir Medinsky, it included Deputy Foreign Minister Andrey Rudenko, Deputy Defense Minister Alexander Fomin, Chairman of the State Duma Committee on International Affairs Leonid Slutsky as well as Russia’s Ambassador to Belarus Boris Gryzlov.
On February 28, the first round of Russian-Ukrainian talks took place in the Gomel region. It lasted five hours. The Russian delegation was led by presidential aide Vladimir Medinsky, who said earlier that the Russian delegation was ready to speak with the Ukrainian side as long as it may take to reach agreements. Belarusian Foreign Minister Vladimir Makei expressed hope that the next round of the talks between the Russian and Ukrainian delegations would be held in a couple of days at the Belarusian-Polish border.