MUNICH. Feb 3 (Interfax) - Ukrainian opposition parliamentary faction Batkivshchyna head Arseny Yatsenyuk believes it would be premature to involve the UN or the OSCE to help settle the political conflict in Ukraine, although these organizations have offered such assistance.
In particular, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon reaffirmed the offer at a meeting with a group of Ukrainian opposition members including Yatsenyuk, UDAR party leader Vitali Klitschko, and unaffiliated parliamentarian Petro Poroshenko on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference on Saturday, Yatsenyuk told Interfax following the meeting.
"But we believe that, at the present stage, the situation in Ukraine should be settled primarily through our direct contacts, between Ukraine and our Western partners. Such options as the OSCE and the UN do exist, but these options should be involved if the situation becomes absolutely hopeless," Yatsenyuk said.
The situation should be settled "at the bilateral level, namely by engaging our European and American partners," Yatsenyuk said.
Asked by Interfax whether Russia could be involved in this process, Yatsenyuk noted that, "as far as I understand, [Russia] is holding consultations with the Ukrainian government, although not publicly."
"Therefore, we are calling on Russia to pursue a transparent policy in our bilateral relations," he said.