KYIV. Oct 23 (Interfax) - Serhiy Syvokho, an adviser to the National Security and Defense Council (NSDC) secretary on reintegration and the restoration of the Donbas territories, will propose to the authorities certain ideas on humanitarian policies on the "occupied Donbas territories."
"My main task is to return residents of the occupied territories to Ukraine mentally," Syvokho said. "When 'friend/foe' labels were put on people for so many years, when propaganda was working on both sides [...] It will be very hard, it won't happen overnight, it's a very long process, but we should have started yesterday. Let's start today," Syvokho told reporters on Wednesday in Kramatorsk, where an ad hoc meeting of the Verkhovna Rada committee on human rights, de-occupation, and reintegration of the "temporarily occupied" territories in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions and in Crimea was held.
He said he will work on humanitarian issues and will give advice.
"We will see what the executive administration does and what steps are taken on the basis of my advice. I will not speak about my proposals yet because some of them may be rejected and some may be accepted. I will turn to you regarding those that are accepted so you can help unravel this issue," Syvokho said.
Speaking about the tendencies among the residents of Donbas, he said "it is one of the most complex issues, but now we have a unique situation and we should use it."
Syvokho said Servant of the People deputy Maxim Tkachenko, who has also become an adviser to the NSDC secretary on reintegration and the restoration of the Donbas territories, will work on the humanitarian problems of the Luhansk region and he will be responsible for the Donetsk region.
"Our paths will be crossing, of course," Syvokho said.