Representatives of Germany, Russia, Ukraine and France agreed to meet again in March to tackle the Ukraine crisis, after a first meeting with “difficult” discussions – the German government announced on Friday (11).
On Thursday (10) its delegates met in Berlin for nine and a half hours.
German and French diplomatic sources said that “these discussions were difficult and made it possible to highlight the different positions and the different options for a solution.”
In the Moscow assessment, it did not lead to results. “We were all witnesses that the meeting of political advisers in the Normandy format did not lead to any results,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Friday.
The spokesperson said the representatives “could not” make “the same reading of the text itself,” referring to the Minsk peace accords signed in 2015, aimed at ending the conflict in eastern Ukraine. According to the United Nations, there are already more than 13,000 dead in the eight years of fighting.
“Unfortunately, the Ukrainian side is doing everything necessary to not fulfill the obligations stipulated in these agreements,” Peskov criticized.
And on Thursday evening, Ukrainian negotiator Andrei Yermak has already acknowledged the lack of rapprochement between the two parties.
“We were not able to reach an agreement on a joint document,” Yermak said, stressing, however, that they would continue to work.
“Everyone wants a result,” he said. “Everyone has expressed their absolute loyalty to the ceasefire, regardless of the circumstances. This is very important,” Yermak said.
That meeting came amid rising tensions with Russia, which Western countries accuse of deploying troops on the border with Ukraine with the aim of launching a new operation against the neighboring country.
Russia denies the accusations and says it is only seeking to ensure its security and prevent NATO (the North Atlantic Treaty Organization) from expanding towards its borders.
This form of mediation between Russia and Ukraine under the administration of Germany and France led to the Minsk Accords. Kiev and Moscow accuse each other of violating the agreement.
After a hiatus of several months, the dialogue between these countries was relaunched in Paris at the end of January, as part of diplomatic efforts to find a de-escalation of the crisis in Ukraine.
The four countries will meet in March, after a meeting between Russia, Ukraine and the OSCE (Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe), better known as the Trilateral Contact Group.
Since 2014, the four countries have formed a dialogue group known as the “Normandy Formula”, dedicated to the peace process in eastern Ukraine.
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