Qatar holds negotiations to expand areas of mediation between Russia, Ukraine

DOHA, November 29. /TASS/. Qatar, which acts as a mediator between Russia and Ukraine on the matter of reconciliation of children evacuated from the combat zone, is holding negotiations in a bid to expand the scope of its mediation, Qatari Foreign Ministry Spokesman Majed bin Mohammed al-Ansari said.
“We’ve been working on finding the ways for [establishment of a] dialogue between Russia and Ukraine,” he said during the One Decision podcast. “We hold negotiations on other kinds of mediation. Recently, we have started working on the issue of the POWs,” the diplomat added.
He mentioned how, during the first hours of the conflict, Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani asked him to prepare a “balanced statement.” The Qatari Prime Minister was going to visit Russia to examine the options for Doha’s mediation to end the conflict.
Later, the sides refused Qatari mediation, but Doha “came back and became a part of the grain deal,” he recalled. After that, Qatar received a request from Ukraine for assistance with the reconciliation of children, evacuated from the combat zone, with their relatives.
“We have contributed to the reconciliation of 34 children and individuals with their families […] including four Russian children, who reconciled with their families in Russia. We are grateful to both sides for cooperating with us on this matter,” al-Ansari concluded.
Overall, the diplomatic efforts, assisted by Russian children’s rights commissioner Maria Lvova-Belova, 15 children from 10 families reconciled with their relatives in Russia and 87 children from 69 facilities reconciled with relatives in Ukraine and in third countries.