Second Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma has told journalists he is completing his work in the trilateral contact group on a Donbas settlement after reaching a critical age.
“I have long made a decision that when I reach my critical age, I will have to thank all who worked there with me, leave and let others work,” Kuchma said.
He recalled that he had worked in the group pro bono.
Later in the day, his press secretary Darka Olifer specified that Kuchma had already reached his “critical age” and was indeed stepping down as Ukraine’s representative in the trilateral contact group.
“This summer Leonid Danylovych celebrated his 80th anniversary. That is what was meant under the critical age,” she told TheBabel website.
He will still take part in a group meeting on 2 October. Further personnel decisions on the matter are up to the Ukrainian president, Olifer said.
Kuchma has been representing Ukraine at the Minsk talks since June 2014.