MINSK, September 01. /ITAR-TASS/. A new round of consultations of the so-called Contact Group on Ukraine opened in the Belarusian capital Minsk on Monday to search for ways to settle the crisis in the war-torn southeastern Ukraine.

The Contact Group is represented by Ukraine’s former president Leonid Kuchma, Russia’s Ambassador to Ukraine Mikhail Zurabov and representative of the OSCE chairperson-in-office on Ukraine Heidi Tagliavini. Taking part in the consultations are vice premier of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic Andrei Purgin and the chairman of the Supreme Council of the self-proclaimed Luhansk People’s Republic, Valery Karyakin.

It is not yet clear whether participants in the meeting will inform reporters about its results.

The initiative to set up a contact group for Ukraine crisis settlement came in February and its first session was held in Kiev early in June. On July 31, Minsk hosted a session of the Contact Group with participation of representatives of the Donetsk People’s Republic leadership. The latest session was held in the Ukrainian capital Kiev on August 14 to discuss logistics aspects of the dispatch of humanitarian aid for the embattled southeast of the country.