Donetsk, Oct 1 - DAN. Ukrainian diplomat Markian Lubkivskyi, viewed by Kiev as a candidate for the post of first deputy head of the Ukrainian delegation at the Minsk talks, has earned a reputation of war hawk, head of the Donetsk Republic social movement Central Executive Committee Alexey Muratov told the Donetsk News Agency on Thursday.
Earlier, this post was held by the country’s first Prime Minister Vitold Fokin. On September 30, he was relieved of his duties by Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky’s decree. The mass media immediately called Lubkivskyi a possible replacement.
“Lvov-born Lubkivskyi has always been a supporter of colour revolutions in Ukraine and aggressive anti-Russian rhetoric. It is safe to say that he’s from the party of war. He repeatedly insisted on using the “military (Croatian) scenario in resolving the Donbass conflict and up to date has been helping gunmen of the so-called anti-terrorist operation, who had killed People’s Republics residents,” Muratov said.
His service record shows prestigious political posts and involvement in international scandals and ingenious crimes of corruption. As the Ukrainian ambassador in Croatia in 2006-2009, he obtained the citizenship of the country which is prohibited by the Ukrainian constitution. While in diplomatic service, he engaged in financial fraud on the land and property markets, earning the nickname Mafioso Marco from the Balkans criminal community. He joined a Croatian ring that trafficked in drugs, weapons and Ukrainian women, he said.
“One can assume that with the arrival of this diplomat at the Contact Group, the Ukrainian delegation’s activity will become meaner, while Donbass will come under a new wave of strikes from Ukrainian armed formations. Referring to the warring Croatia (1991-1995), Lubkivskyi repeatedly said that they “never dared to mention the special status, while the talks, similar to the Minsk Agreements - the Zagreb-4 plan -- ended in a war,” the activist said.
Markian Lubkivskyi is a Ukrainian politician and diplomat, a native of Lvov. He has been in diplomatic service since 1995, for example, he was Ukraine’s Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary in Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina. In 2014 and 2015 he was an adviser to the chairman of the Security Service of Ukraine. In 2015, he became a member of the political council of the Justice party. He ran for the parliament from the Bakivshchyna party but was unsuccessful.*jk