PACE monitors return to Kyiv on February 18 to explore peaceful solutions to crisis

The co-rapporteurs for the monitoring of Ukraine by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), Mailis Reps and Marietta de Pourbaix-Lundin, return to Kyiv on February 18-21 to meet with leading figures on all sides of the current crisis to explore ways to find a peaceful resolution.

Making their twelfth visit to the country, they are due to hold talks with President Viktor Yanukovych and leading members of the Ukrainian government and Party of Regions, as well as opposition leaders Vitali Klitschko, Arseniy Yatseniuk and Oleh Tiahnybok, PACE press service reported.

The monitors will also seek to find out what role the Verkhovna Rada (Ukraine's parliament) and PACE can play in helping Ukraine to resolve the current political crisis and to follow up on the resolution adopted by the Parliamentary Assembly following an urgent debate at its January plenary session in Strasbourg.

Discussions are also foreseen with the Acting Interior Minister and the head of Ukraine's Berkut riot police. Other talks are planned with Ukrainian businessmen Petro Poroshenko, Rinat Akhmetov and ex-head of president's administration Serhiy Liovochkin, as well as Yevhenia Tymoshenko, daughter of Ukraine's ex-premier, and oppositionist Yuriy Lutsenko.

Besides, the rapporteurs will also meet Euromaidan groups, alleged torture victims, journalist organizations and human rights groups, and will visit Maidan Square.